Veggi Fare

Especially for you my friend - Espresso Panna Cotta with Spiced Cherry Compote!

2013-02-11T11:40:00.000+01:00

“A friend is, as it were, a second self” (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

I have so many things, stories, incidences running through my mind that I could write pages, but when I sat in front of my computer, fingers on the keyboard, I am thinking, how to begin and what to write. I didn't find any other appropriate quote that could define us and our friendship.

Today might be an ordinary day for the rest of the world but very special to us. It's been so many years since we last met but that hardly changes anything between us. We still manage to be each others support system, even if we sometimes talk just once in a month. We can still understand each other's silences on the phone and start from where we last left off.

I miss our good old days and all the fun, our shopping excursions, the craze for watching the movies first day-first show, trying out every new restaurant in the city and our desperate measures to collect cash to do all this. Thinking of all this is enough to brighten up my day. I hope we will be able to meet up soon and relive all these beautiful moments again.

Today's recipe is especially for you my friend. I just cant stop laughing now and finding it really funny that we are talking recipes, who once didn't know abc of cooking. I experimented with agar-agar as I promised you, and I think the result is quite satisfying. So now it's your turn :-)

Ingredients

80 ml - sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup - cream, around 40 % fat
1/4 cup - greek yogurt (you may also use thick hung curd)
1 espresso (approx 30 ml), cooled
1/3 cup - milk
1 tsp levelled - agar agar powder

For Cherry Compote
125 grams - cherries, washed and pitted
2 tbsp - muscovado sugar
2 small pieces of cinnamon sticks
2 pieces of star anise
1/4 cup - water

For decoration (optional)
Sorry for not providing the exact sugar measurement for the decoration but I followed this video here to make the sugar nest.

Method

Bring the cream to just before a boil and remove from the heat.
Mix the agar agar powder and the milk in a pan. Place the pan over a medium heat and stir until agar agar dissolves properly. It should not take more than a minute.
Mix the hot cream to the milk-agar agar mixture and mix well to get an uniform mixture. Let it cool.
Mix together the cooled espresso, condensed milk and the greek yogurt in a bowl and keep it aside.
Add the slightly warm agar agar cream mixture (if you are able to put your finger in the mixture to the count of 10) to the condensed milk-yogurt mixture and mix well.
Sieve the mixture and pour into the moulds and place the moulds in the fridge to set. It will set in an hours time.
For cherry compote- Place all the ingredients in a pan and cook on medium heat until the cherries are slightly soft. Remove from the heat.
To remove the panna cotta from the moulds- dip each mould in hot water for 5 seconds and then carefully turn out on the serving plates. Just before serving carefully place the sugar nest on top of the panna cotta and serve it with hot cherry compote.

The panna cotta was soft, shiny, creamy and good to taste. It had a slightly grainy texture because of the yogurt. You can completely ignore the yogurt and use cream instead, if you mind the grainy texture.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Cake with Cream and Marzipan- Happy Birthday hubby!

2012-12-26T19:12:00.000+01:00

The month of december is my favourite time of the year. There is something special in the air, love, togetherness, not to forget delicious food and all the goodies. All this made even more amazing by beautiful white snow. We do not celebrate Christmas but I don't fail on the celebrations front here... December sees my birthday, my hubby's birthday and our wedding anniversary all in one month.

It was my hubby's birthday a few days ago and he requested that I bake this cake for him. When I heard of it, I couldn't help but smile - he wanted a very sweet (too sweet for my taste bud) cake all by himself :-)

My hubby was overwhelmed and loved it. I was happy with a small bite though (this was exactly the opposite of the kind of cake for me) but I made the birthday boy happy and thats what matters :-)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup - all purpose flour

2/3 cup - sugar

2/3 cup - sunflower oil

1/2 cup - vanilla yogurt

1 cup - milk

1 1/2 tsp - vanilla essence

1 tsp - baking powder

a pinch of salt

a generous pinch of soda bicarbonate

soaking syrup

1/4 cup - water

1/8 tsp - vanilla extract powder

1 tsp - castor sugar

Mix everything together.

For the whipped cream

150 ml - cream, minimum 30 % fat

3 tbsp heaped - castor sugar

1/4 tsp - vanilla extract powder

Beat everything together till thick

For the topping

50 grams - marzipan

1 tbsp - castor sugar

a few drops of milk

Mix everything together and knead until you get a smooth dough, roll out into a 15 cm diameter circle. You can roll it out within sheets of clingfilm or wax paper to make the rolling easier.

For the rose

25 gram - marzipan

1 tsp - sugar

a few drops of milk

a pinch of edible red colour

Mix together all these ingredients and follow this video here

edible glitter to sprinkle over the cake

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line two 15 cms round baking pans with aluminium foil and grease generously with oil.
In a bowl,mix together the flour, salt, sugar,baking powder and soda bicarbonate.
In another bowl, mix well the oil, vanilla yogurt, vanilla essence and milk.
Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.
Divide the mixture into the two lined and greased pans, tap the pans against the counter and place both the pans in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool in the pans for a couple of minutes before inverting them on the wire rack to cool completely
Once the cakes have cooled down completely, place one cake on the cake board and brush the top and the sides of the cake with the syrup. Place the whipped cream in the centre and spread out evenly over the cake. Place the 2nd cake on the top of the cream, brush the top and the sides with the syrup and carefully spread the cream on the sides of both the cakes.
Place the marzipan circle on the top of the cake.
Brush the bottom of the marzipan roses with the syrup and place on the cake and sprinkle some eddible glitter all over the cake.

Notes:

1. If you do not have 2 same sized baking pans then halve the ingredients for the cake and make the batter twice. Do not make it all together.

2. You may need a very little of the soaking syrup. Discard the rest of the syrup. Do not brush the cake excessively with the syrup otherwise the cake will turn soggy.

I am going to India for a month. Wishing all my lovely readers a very happy new year :-)

Enjoy!

I scream ice cream... Matcha Chocolate Ice cream

2012-12-17T23:02:00.000+01:00

A bowl of soup, a cup of hot cocoa or coffee is the demand of the season now. After our evening meal today, as usual and expected, my hubby "what's for dessert today?" After a couple of minutes, I served him the ice cream.

The first reaction, "Ice cream, now, in this season..." Then an array of comments started pouring in, "Oh!!! You tried out the green tea powder that we got from our Singapore-Thailand trip". He tried the matcha one first, " How did you make this one?" Mmm... " It is very much like the one we had on our trip." Then he tried the chocolate one, " Did you by any chance ask the vendor for the ice cream recipes?" And, after finishing off his 2 scoops, he looked at me and said, " I hope, you didn't make just a trial batch. Do we have more?" I smiled at him and said, " Ice cream, now, in this season... " I took out the ice cream box out of the fridge and we both enjoyed it, in front of the fireplace, talking about all the fun and adventure of our trip this summer.

We had matcha ice cream in Singapore and I decided then and there that I was gonna try this out. Well, it turned out pretty good and I am very happy and satisfied.

I am thinking of experimenting a lot with this green tea powder, will update here if I get something good.

Ingredients

500 grams - yogurt

150 ml - cream 30% fat

175 ml - sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp - matcha powder/ green tea powder

1 tbsp - dark cocoa powder

Method

Take a tray, put 2 layers of dish towels on the tray and put a wet muslin cloth on the top of the towels.
Spread the yogurt on the wet muslin cloth and leave it for appx 15 mins.
Remove the yogurt with the help of a spoon and a good nice thick hung yogurt is ready.
Put the cream and condensed milk in a pan over a medium heat and let it heat up. As soon as tiny bubbles start to appear, remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool completely.
Add the hung yogurt to the cool cream-condensed milk mixture and mix well. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions.
Add the matcha powder in one portion and the cocoa powder in to the other. Transfer to seperate plastic containers, cover and freeze till half set.
Place the half set ice cream, one after the other, in the food processor and process. Transfer back to the plastic containers and freeze again till half set. Repeat one more time.
After the third time let both the ice creams set completely.
Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving and enjoy.

Enjoy!

Snow and Snowflake Cookies!

2012-12-11T14:58:00.001+01:00

It's been snowing and how!! Munich looks so beautiful covered by a blanket of snow. It's picture perfect.

Also, perfect weather to go out to the beautiful, colourful Christmas markets. Almost every neighborhood has its own Christmas market, some are small, some are big, but what is really common is the festive atmosphere.

One can smell Christmas in the air. The local sweets, Christstollen (German fruit n nut cake), Lebkuchen (German ginger bread), Baumkuchen etc and not to forget the Ghühwein ( Mulled Wine) combined with berries, apples... A cup of Glühwein in the Christmas market to beat this very chilly weather is a treat.

This recipe is taken from a German Christmas baking book. It's called Schneeflöckchen literal translation in English is Snowflakes. I think this is the best time to bake these cookies. I can see the beautiful and soft snow flakes from my kitchen window and also in my kitchen Oven :-)

Ingredients

250 grams - unsalted butter at room temperature
100 grams - castor sugar
2 - vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped
120 grams - all purpose flour / weizenmehl 405
250 grams - cornstarch / speisestärke
100 grams - castor sugar to sprinkle over the cookies

Method

Beat the 100 grams of castor sugar, soft butter and vanilla seeds together into a fluffy paste.
Add the cornstarch and the flour to the butter mixture and knead into a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 3 parts and form rolls with a 3cms diameter. Keep the rolls in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C and line a baking tray with a baking paper.
Take out the rolls from the refrigerator, cut each roll into 20 pieces, roll each piece into a ball and flatten it slightly and give a fork impression on the center of each cookie and place them on the lined baking tray, spaced well apart.
Place the tray in the centre of the preheated oven and bake approx for 12-15 minutes.
Transfer the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely and then sprinkle the castor sugar over the cookies.

Makes - 60 cookies

Enjoy!

Momos with spicy tomato dip

2012-11-06T22:39:00.000+01:00

It's been really long since I've updated the blog but finally I got my mojo back and hope to blog regularly. A warm hug to all of you for your mails and concern. I am hale and hearty, was just a little occupied with other activities in my life. I conducted a cooking course, "Modern Indian Cooking" and that kept me really busy. This was my first step, going in front of the people and teaching them what I love doing and am passionate about. The course went really well and that's a huge motivation.

I made momos a few days ago, when it snowed here. Yes, the first snow of the season, which is always a happy sight for me. We took a stroll in the neighborhood.

Isn't it beautiful!! I love snow! I love these cold days! I am a winter baby :-)

Ingredients

For the Momo Wrapper
1 cup - all purpose flour
1/4 tsp - salt
1 tsp - sunflower oil
water to knead the dough

For the Filling
1/2 cup - onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup - capsicum, finely chopped
1/2 cup heaped - brown mushrooms, finely chopped
1/3 cup heaped - carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup heaped - zucchini, finely chopped
2 tsp - light soya sauce
2 tsp - chili sauce
1/8 cup - coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp - ginger, peeled and grated
1 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the Dip
2 - tomatoes, medium sized
1/3 cup - onions
1/4 cup - capsicum green coloured
1 - green chili (optional)
1 1/2 tbsp - ginger, peeled
1 tbsp - lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp - coriander leaves

Method

For the Filling

1. Heat the oil in to a non stick pan, add the onions and saute for a couple of minutes,on medium heat add the garlic and saute again for a minute.
2. Add the mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, ginger and capsicum and cook on medium heat until soft.
3. Add the sauces, salt, pepper and coriander leaves and cook for a couple of minutes. Keep aside.

For the Dip
Put all the ingredients in a mixer and grind coarsely.

For the Momo wrapper

1. Add the salt and flour into a bowl. Add the oil and mix. Add water gradually and knead well to make a hard dough.Knead for a couple of minutes.
2. Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 30 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions.
4. Roll out each portion into a 8 cm diameter circle to make a even momo wrapper.
5. Put approx 1 tbsp of the filling in the centre of the momo wrapper.
6. Apply the water along the edges and fold over to make a semi circle.
7. Pinch at the outer rim.
8. Repeat with the remaining momo wrappers.
9. Arrange the momos in a greased steamer plate and steam for 5 minutes on high heat and 7-8 minutes on medium heat.
10. Serve hot with the dip.

These momos are easy to make and taste really good. Perfect for the season.

Enjoy!

Thai Red Vegetable Curry and off to Thailand for 2 weeks!!!

2012-08-12T17:09:00.000+02:00

I am about to leave for our much awaited holiday to Thailand. What better than sharing a curry recipe from that region to kick off the vacation? This recipe is also from my drafts treasure...

Well, this is my take on the traditional Red Thai Curry. I have made this curry a number of times and have never been dissapointed. Hope you like it too.

I am looking forward to this trip and hoping to have wonderful culinary experiences, which I promise to share with you guys.

Ingredients

For the paste
2 piece - dry red whole chillies, deseeded
4 inch piece - ginger, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp - olive oil and very little water

To be boiled together
1 - carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup - french beans, thinly sliced
1/3 cup - babycorn, thinly sliced

Rest of the ingredients for the curry
1/2 cup - red or orange bell pepper
1/3 cup - pineapple, cut into small pieces
2-3 kaffir lime leaves
1 lemongrass, thinly sliced, (see here how to use lemongrass)
zest of a lemon
350 ml - coconut milk
salt to taste
3 tbsp - palm fat or any oil
1/4 cup - roasted peanuts
handfull of coriander leaves, finely chopped

To garnish
coriander leaves and chives, finely chopped

Serve the curry with rice. I added the remaining lemongrass (upper stalk) to the rice while cooking and removed just before serving. It gives a very nice lemony flavour to the rice.

Method

Heat the palm fat in a non-stick pan and add the paste to the pan and saute on medium heat until the raw smell vanishes.
Add the peppers and lemongrass and cook again for a couple of minutes on medium heat.
Add the boiled veggies and mix.
Add the coconut milk, lime leaves, salt, lemon zest, 1/8 cup of the roasted peanuts and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionaly.
Add the pineapples and coriander leaves and mix.
Remove the curry from the heat, garnish it with the rest of the roasted peanuts, chives, coriander leaves and serve with rice.

Enjoy!

Pear Ginger Ravioli in Butter Sage Sauce

2012-07-30T23:06:00.000+02:00

There are a lot of recipes lying in my drafts, waiting to be posted. I have promised myself not to create new ones before I post all what I have in the draft. This pasta dish is one such recipe which has been waiting long to see the light of day. What I remember vaguely is that the inspiration for this dish came from a local neighborhood Italian restaurant. My hubby went for a dinner with some colleagues and had this dish. The first thing he said after coming home, was "let's try making ravioli" Hence this recipe was born.

I have added semolina to the pasta dough, which gives the ravioli a very nice texture and slight crunch. This is quiet a rich pasta dish with all that butter sage sauce, so of course it tasted really good.

Ingredients

For the Ravioli

1 cup - all purpose flour

1/4 cup - semolina (suji)

1/2 tsp - salt

4 tbsp - olive oil

water to knead

Mix the flour and the semolina with the salt, the olive oil and enough water so that the dough is neither too soft nor too hard. Knead well. Cover with a wet piece of muslin cloth and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. The semolina should have soaked up most of the water, making the dough hard - so sprinkle a few drops of water and knead the dough lightly.

Divide the dough into 4 parts and flatten it out with your hand.Sprinkle some flour on the dough. Feed the flattened dough into the pasta machine at the thickest setting and roll it out 2-3 times until the dough is smooth. Take care to keep pulling the dough sheets form the machine at the same rate you are feeding it in. Change to a medium thickness and repeat another 2-3 times.

Finally, change to a thin / fine setting and let the dough pass through the pasta machine another 2-3 times. The dough should be a thin sheet by now. Do not worry if its irregular in shape or is broken in places.

Take a cookie cutter or a bowl with a sharp edge and cut out rounds from the dough. The dough left over form the corners can be kneaded and put through the machine again.

For the Filling

1 - pear, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tbsp - finely chopped candied ginger

1/2 tsp - butter

2 tsp - mascarpone cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pear pieces in the butter until slightly soft. Add in the mascarpone cheese, finely chopped candied ginger, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat.

Take the filling, lay it out on the center of a raviolo sheet, leaving an approx. 2 cm edge all around. Take another raviolo sheet, wet the edges with some water and press this sheet onto the sheet with the filling. Impress the edges with fork tines to make the sheets stick better as well as to give it a classic ravioli look.

Boil some water. Carefully lower the Ravioli into the boiling water. Let boil until the ravioli start floating (around 4-5 minutes for medium sized ones, slightly longer for bigger / thicker ones).

For the Sauce

50 grams (or more if you like) - butter

10 -12 pieces - sage leaves

a pinch of salt

parmesan cheese and pepper to garnish

Put the butter and the sage leaves into a pan and heat until the butter melts completely (do not bring the butter to boil). Add a pinch of salt. Pour while still warm on the ravioli and garnish with grated parmesan and pepper. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Spicy Rice Starch-Tamarind Soup Mandiya - A traditional Rajasthani Dish

2012-07-16T14:24:00.000+02:00

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a very relaxing and lazy weekend - watched a couple of movies, indulged in good food and it was simply amazing.

On Sunday, I made this very traditional Rajasthani dish: kaatha dal chawal-maandiya, literally translated, Thick Lentils and rice with this spicy tangy tamarind, rice starch Soup.

The Mandiya is lovely as a spicy soup or in a more traditional combination, as we had it, with the rice and the lentils- which makes a filling and very delicious meal. We normally mix 1/3rd thick dal and 2/3rd rice, with a generous helping of ghee and dip each spoonful in a bowl of the mandiya.

The lentils needs to be cooked in a little water with a couple of cloves, cardamom and cinnamon sticks, a bay leaf, a pinch of turmeric powder, salt and a tsp of ghee. The consistency of the lentils needs to be thick. If it is not, let the dal simmer in the pressure cooker without the lid and, after a couple of minutes, carefully remove the watery part from the top. (you can put this lentil water in the mandiya, instead of water)

Ingredients for the mandiya

1 tbsp - ghee

2 - red whole chilli or according to your taste

2 pieces - bayleaf

a generous pinch of asafoetida, (hing)

2 pieces of green cardamom

2 pieces of clove

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp - mustard seeds

1/8tsp - cumin seeds

6-8 pieces of curry leaves

1/8 tsp - turmeric powder

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder, more or less

50 grams - tamarind soaked in 3/4 cup of warm water

450 ml - rice starch water (maand)

1 cup - water

2 tbsp - thick cooked lentils/daal (I used split pigeon peas/toor daal)

salt to taste

2 tsp - sugar

Method

Mash the soaked tamarind. Sieve the extract and use 1/2 cup for this recipe. (if kept in the fridge, tamarind pulp stays good for 4-5 days)
Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red whole chili, asafoetida / hing, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick and let the seeds crackle. Add the curry leaves, turmeric powder and chilli powder, and cook for a few seconds. Add the tamarind extract and cook for a minute, stirring continuously.
Add the rice starch water, lentil water or normal water, 2 tbsp of the cooked thick lentils and salt to taste. Cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lastly add the sugar and cook again for a couple of minutes. Serve piping hot.

This is one of my favourite Rajasthani dishes and I can never have enough of it.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Coconut Cinnamon Cookies

2012-06-25T19:00:00.000+02:00

Whenever I am upset or in a foul mood, I eat chocolate and it makes me happy and when I am happy, I make a chocolate dish :-) It's something like a virtuous circle.

After a long wait and struggle and putting in a lot of effort, a problem I had been facing for some time now saw a ray of sunshine and it definitely makes me ecstatic. I wanted to share my joy with you all and baked these flavourful, scrumptious cookies. They are awfully easy to bake and taste simply great.

The smell that emanates from the oven, still wafting through the apartment, as I am writing with a big smile on my face now :-) Go and indulge in some happiness!

Ingredients

1/2 cup - all purpose flour (maida)

1/8 tsp - baking powder

a generous pinch of bicarbonate of soda

a pinch of salt

1 tbsp - dessicated coconut

1/2 tbsp - dark cocoa powder

a generous pinch of cinnamon powder

handful of dark chocolate chips

3 tbsp - sugar

4 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/8 cup - low fat milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a baking tray with a baking paper.
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
In another bowl, mix together the oil and milk.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Do not overmix.
Scoop up 1 tbsp of the mixture and shape into balls. Place them on the lined tray, spread well apart, and flatten them slightly.
Place the tray in the center of the oven and bake for approx 12-13 minutes.
Leave to cool in the baking tray for a couple of minutes minutes, then transfer the cookies to the wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Bhapa Doi: Traditional Bengali Dessert in 2 exotic flavours: Masala Chai and Chocolate Orange

2012-06-13T23:44:00.000+02:00

Bhapa Doi is a very traditional Bengali delicacy, and means, literally translated, steamed yogurt. Also known as Indian cheesecake due to its texture and taste.

Though I have spent a good number of years in Kolkata and have tasted a load of Bengali sweets, I must admit that I had never tasted Bhapa Doi. I have seen this recipe on a number of blogs but seeing this recipe at Jyoti's blog actually rang a bell. I wondered why haven't I tried out this recipe yet. The simplicity of this Bengal delicacy is it's highlight.

I have (matter of bad habit) played with the recipe a little and tried out 2 new flavours to the steamed yogurt. One of course has to be my all time favourite Chocolate and this time around I have combined it with orange and almonds. And, the second flavour is Chai Masala (Indian Tea spice powder).

This one is especially for my dear sister - enjoy, and go out and get a bowl from the neighborhood sweet shop!

Ingredients

160 grams - sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup - greek yogurt 10% fat

1/2 cup - milk

30 grams - dark orange almond chocolate, melted and cooled

1/4 tsp - zest of an orange + to garnish

1/2 tbsp - blanched almond slivers, roasted, to garnish

1/8 tsp - cardamom powder

1/8 tsp - clove powder

1/8 tsp - dried ginger powder (saunth)

1/8 tsp - cinnamon powder

a generous pinch of nutmeg powder

a generous pinch of balck pepper powder

a couple of cinnamon sticks, green cardamom and cloves to garnish (optional)

a couple of fresh orange pieces to garnish (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C

Mix the yogurt, milk and condensed milk together until smooth.Divide it equally into bowls.

Add the melted and cooled chocolate and orange zest into one bowl and mix well. Fill this mixture into 2 oven proof bowls/ramekins.

Add the powdered spices to the another bowl and mix well. I sieved the mixture and filled it into 2 oven proof bowls/ramekins.

Place the bowls/ramekins in a large baking tray. Fill the tray with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins or dish.Place the tray in the centre of the oven and bake for 35 minutes.(If you are using a large baking dish, it may take longer)

I switched off the oven after 35 minutes and left the yogurt in the oven until the oven was cool. Take the bowls out of the oven and cool to room temperature and then let it chill in the fridge.

Garnish the chocolate yogurt with fresh orange pieces, orange rind and roasted almond slivers and the Chai Yogurt with the cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods and cloves and serve.

Note

Do not cover the bowls/ramekins/baking dish while baking the yogurt.
Traditionally this yogurt is steamed. One can also steam it in a double boiler or a pressure cooker.
Instead of greek yogurt one can also use thick yogurt or, traditionally, hung plain yogurt.
Of course, one can add any flavour to this yogurt- fruits, exotic spices, coffee... it's upto your imagination.

Serves - 4

Cheers!

Baked Malpua

2012-05-28T22:52:00.000+02:00

It's been quite a while that I updated a recipe. Of late I have been a little less inspired and just did not feel like myself. Hence, this space of mine has been neglected.

A big warm hug and thank you to all of you for your love and mails. I will try and post more regularly.

As you all know, both my hubby and I are dessert people. We follow the motto: "Never say no to sweets". And, I often try out new desserts, sweets, cakes etc... Today, I am posting a baked version of a very famous Indian sweet, "Malpua", a rich soft fried pancake with rich saffron flavours.

My hubby had the first bite and he said, " Mmm malpua... and that too baked...awesome." That was sheer music to my ears and I thought I better share this with my friends. I hope you like it as much as we did.

Ingredients

1 cup - whole wheat flour
5 tbsp - muscovado sugar
1 tsp - cardamom powder
1/4 cup - low fat milk
1/2 cup - low fat buttermilk
1/2 tsp - baking powder
1/4 tsp - bicarbonate of soda
4 tbsp - sunflower oila pinch of salt

Sugar syrup
I forgot to write down the exact measurements for the sugar syrup. We need just enough to drizzle over the baked malpua that it becomes moist.

For garnishing

1 tbsp -edible gum resin (gond)
1 tbsp - clarified butter (ghee)
6 pieces - almonds, chopped roughly
1 tbsp - blanched pistachio, finely chopped
saffron strands

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease a bun tray.

In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix.

In another bowl, add the milk, buttermilk and oil and mix.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and tip in the liquid mix and mix lightly.

Spoon the batter into the greased bun tray and place the tray in the centre of the preheated oven.

Bake for approx 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Let the malpua cool in the tray for a couple of minutes. Take out the malpua out of the tray, invert them and prick the top with a fork. Drizzle the sugar syrup over the top and press gently.

Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan on a medium heat, add the gond and stirring continously fry the gond. They will fluff up really quickly and will be of almost double the size. Remove them with the help of a spoon. Make sure you do not burn them. Keep aside on a plate

Place some gond on top of the malpua along with chopped pistachio, almonds and saffron strands. Serve immediately.

They taste the best when warm.

Cheers!

Hearty Korean Platter!

2012-03-23T21:56:00.000+01:00

I first tasted korean fare at a friend's place. She tried some recipes from a korean recipe book. After having that lunch that day, I was so inspired by the korean cuisine that I immediately noted down the recipes. I have made the dishes a number of times now, and finally get to post it at my favourite place.

I made a few changes to the original recipes to suit my taste buds and according to the ingredients available here in Munich. The extensive use of sesame, garlic and soya sauce obviously adds a great flavour to the dishes. I haven't used any salt in the dishes, as the salty taste of soya sauce is just perfect.

Hobak Chon (Rice wrapped in Salad leaves)

original recipe calls for pumpkin leaves but I used Savoy cabbage, one can also use chinakohl or pak choi.

1/2 cup - cooked rice
savoy cabbage 1 cup - mixed herbs, finely chopped (I used dill, parsley and chives)
1 tbsp - finely chopped onions
2 1/2 tbsp - sesame oil
1 tsp - sesame seeds roasted
2 -3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp - soya sauce (I used light soya sauce)
1 - green chili, finely chopped

Method

Wash the savoy cabbage. Cut into long, broad stripes (5-6 cm broad, 15-20 cm long). Slightly blanch the cabbage stripes and pat dry the leaves with a kitchen towel or in a salad spinner.

Mix together the finely chopped herbs, onions, sesame oil, sesame seeds, garlic, green chili and soya sauce. Keep aside.

Sambal Oelek Paste

For this chili paste I used sambal oelek but one can also make the sauce with pureed fresh red chillies.

2 tsp - sesame oil
1 tsp - roasted sesame seeds
2 tsp - honey
4 tsp - light soya sauce
2 big cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp - sambal oelek

Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Keep aside.

Kong Chorim (Buttered Beans)

130 grams - french beans
a blob of butter
3/4 tsp - roasted sesame seeds
5-10 pieces - whole black pepper
1 tsp - light soya sauce

Wash the beans and chop off the tops and the tails. Blanch for 3 minutes. Drain the water.

Heat a non stick pan, add the butter and the black pepper. Add the blanched beans and cover the lid. Cook for approx 10 minutes, or until the beans are soft. Do not forget to stir the beans occasionally.

Sprinkle the roasted sesame seeds before serving.

Oyi Seng Tshe ( Spicy Sesame Cucumber Salad)
I used zucchini instead of cucumber.

1 - zucchini, very thinly sliced
1 - green chili, finely chopped
1 tbsp - sesame oil
1 tbsp - roasted sesame seeds
2 big cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp - light soya sauce
1 tbsp - coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp - dill, finely chopped
a pinch of salt
pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Place all the prepared dishes on the table. Take the savoy cabbage strip, place some rice in the centre of the cabbage strip. Add the Sambal oelek paste (according to your taste) on the rice and top it up with some mixed herbs. Roll the salad leaf from both the ends and enjoy this with the buttered beans and Zucchini salad.

It's hearty fare indeed. Both my hubby and I, enjoyed the meal on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. And, yes, we ended up the meal with a cup of korean green tea ( a gift by the same friend who introduced me to this cuisine)

Mashikeh- mogoseyo - that's Korean for "enjoy your meal"!

Almond Saffron Drink/Badam Kesar ka Sharbat

2012-03-05T16:51:00.000+01:00

With Holi, the indian festival of colours just round the corner, I thought about making Thandai - but after pondering over it for a while, I thought I should do something different this year for Holi. So the next idea was to make this rich almond-saffron drink or badam-kesar ka sharbat.

As the name suggests, the star ingredients of this drink are almonds and saffron. I like to use saffron very generously (I am a bit of a Saffron afficionado), but of course you can reduce the quantity of saffron if you are not fond of an intense saffron aroma.

The shelf life of this syrup at room temperature is around a month, if you live in a warm country then I would suggest to put the syrup in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

100 grams - almonds, soaked overnight

1170 grams - sugar

1 1/2 cup - water + to make almond milk

3/4 tsp - cardamom powder

1/2 gram - saffron

1 tsp + 1/2 tsp - rose water

Method

Blanch the almonds. Grind the blanched almonds using some water. Sieve/press through a muslin cloth and extract the liquid and keep aside. Do not throw the leftover/residue.
Put the residue back into the mixer and grind using little water and sieve/press again. Repeat this process one more time.
Soak the saffron in 1/2 tsp of rose water and keep for half an hour.
Add the suagr and 1 1/2 cup of water in a deep vessel and cook on high flame, until the sugar dissolves. Remove the dirt if any with the help of a spoon.
Add the almond milk and let it come to a boil(be careful as it will splutter a lot) Reduce the heat to medium and cook for approx 3-4 minutes. Remove the vessel from the heat.
After 5-7 minutes, add the soaked saffron, cardamom powder and 1 tsp of rose water and mix. Cover the vessel and let it cool.
Store in glass jars when completely cool.
To serve: Add 2 tsp of sharbat or according to your taste (if you want it sweeter or less sweet), to 250 ml of chilled milk. Give it a whiz in the blender and serve. Alternately, whiz 2 tsp of sharbat, a little vanilla icecream and some soda in a blender and serve immediately. Tastes simply awesome.

Note

If you notice sugar crystals in the sugar syrup, first transfer the non crystallised part into another glass jar and than add a little hot water to the remaining syrup. Let it cool completely before storing in a glass jar.

Enjoy!

Green Peppercorn and Capers Bread

2012-02-23T16:15:00.000+01:00

I enjoy all four seasons – but Winter most of all, especially when it’s snowing. Winter has its own special charm and fun. There are so many things one can do and of course, it is also the time we can eat a lot and still hide the results under layers of clothes . Unfortunately, it's just when the winter is about to get over, I start worrying about the extra weight and the calories.

Of course, there are a lot of activities which certainly help in keeping the balance – we went tobogganing and it was great fun, and very very tiring. We certainly selected a very good day for it, it was not too cold but snowing and fresh snow is not too bad at all. The scenic beauty was breathtaking, the fresh snow and the sledding, it was a great day.

By the end of the day, we were all kaput and really enjoyed a generous helping of a cake and hot cocoa on the way back.

Today's recipe Green Peppercorn and Capers Bread was baked a week ago - we had it with the Pineapple Soup. The idea came spontaneously, especially as I had not baked fresh bread for quite some time, and was also an attempt to use some leftover green peppercorns and capers. I also used a new kind of flour- grapeseed flour. It's supposed to be really healthy and it gave a very nice nutty texture to the bread. I am planning to experiment a bit with this flour in future. The pepper and capers flavours went very well with the Hot and Spicy Pineapple Soup…hope you enjoy it as well!

Ingredients

210 grams - whole wheat flour + to dust the work top

15 grams - grapeseed flour

1/2 tsp - salt

1/2 tsp - baking powder

1 tsp - bicarbonate of soda

4 tbsp - olive oil

25 grams - capers

5 grams - green peppercorns (more or less)

1 1/2 tsp - dried italian herbs

100 ml - low fat yogurt

200 ml - water at room temperature

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a bowl mix together the flours, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, dried italian herbs, capers and green peppercorns.
In another bowl, mix together the olive oil, yogurt and water.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the liquid mixture and mix lightly with a wooden spatula so that everything just comes together.
Generously dust the work top with some whole wheat flour.
Gather the dough into a ball on the floured work top and with floured hand flatten the ball and try and give a round shape.
Using a sharp and floured knife slit the dough. Don't push down into the dough.
Transfer the dough to the lined baking tray and place the tray in the centre of the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 30 - 35 minutes.
Serve with Hot and Spicy Pineapple Soup or with any other soup of your choice.

Enjoy!

Back to snowclad and freezing Munich - with a hot and spicy pineapple soup.

2012-02-10T11:35:00.000+01:00

I am back from my lovely India trip.This trip was beautiful and a most memorable one for me, wIth my little sister getting married and entering a new phase of her life. I also managed to travel to Rajasthan (my birth place), which is always really special to me. Visited the beautiful temples and also went to Ranthambore and did the adventurous Safari.

And then...back to Munich which is absolutely freezing with temperatures around -18 and looks life a beautiful snow-clad fairy land. I took my time to get used to the sudden temperature change, from no woolens in Kolkata to only woolens here in Munich, from all the hustle bustle of Kolkata and so many people to quiet Munich and comparitively less people :-) On one side, I do miss my home for so many years - Kolkata, but on the other side I am glad to be back to my current home.

I am a winter person and actually enjoying the winters here now, the snow, and suddenly entering in a cafe to have a cup of hot cocoa to beat the chill. It's fun!

I made this Pineapple soup which I thought is apt for this time of the year. Hot, sweet and spicy Soup and had with caper-pepper bread, recipe follows next.

view from my kitchen window...

Ingredients

9 pieces - pineapple from the can, pureed

1 1/2 cup - water

2 tbsp - sugar

1/2 tsp - cumin powder

1/4 tsp - black salt

salt to taste

3 tbsp - lemon juice, adjust according to your taste

little garam masala optional

1/2 of a fresh red chilli cut into rounds

coriander leaves to garnish

For tempering

1/4 tsp - sunflower oil

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

a pinch of asafoetida (hing)

For the paste

2 inch - ginger, peeled and chopped

1 - green chilli

Method

Add the pureed pineapple along with the water to a pan and cook with the sugar, cumin powder, black salt, salt and lemon juice for 5 minutes on a medium heat.
In another pan, heat the oil. Add the cumin seeds and hing and let it splutter, add the ginger and chilli paste and saute for a minute.
Add the tempering to the cooked pineapple mixture. Add the chilli rounds to the soup and cook further for a couple of minutes.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Aloo Dum - Spicy potatoes and away for a month

2012-01-06T21:13:00.000+01:00

Aloo dum is one of my favourite starters /snacks. In my hometown, Kolkata, it's also a favourite street food, and, of course, I happen to be a big fan of street food.

Normally I do not eat too much chilli. This is, however, one of the few recipes which I love in spite of it's high chilli content. The dish is spicy and tangy and simply mouthwatering. But a word of warning - whenever I eat this, I always keep a bottle of water and some Kleenex handy. The eating ritual is a classic - I take one bite and then a sip of water, and then another bite, then a quick nose wipe with the kleenex, then another bite, and another sip of water - you get the picture, I guess. My face soon turns red and eyes watery, but still I enjoy this as much as anything else. My sis and bro always pull my leg afterward, but it's worth it! My love for this dish overpowers my lack of tolerance for spicy food.

Of course, the original recipe would have one fry the potatoes - but I generally do a baked version.

I love this one, and I hope you like it too!

Ingredients

500 grams - baby potatoes (or if you don't get them, really small potatoes), boiled and peeled
6 tbsp - sunflower oil + to grease the baking tray
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
4 bay leaves
2 tbsp - coriander powder
2 tbsp - tamarind pulp (adjust according to your taste)
2 tsp - salt (or according to taste)

To be coarsely ground together using little water:
60 grams - garlic, peeled and chopped
6 pieces - whole red chillies
2-3 inches of ginger
1 tbsp - cumin seeds

To garnish: rock salt, lemon juice according to taste and loads of finely chopped coriander leaves

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Grease the baking tray with a little oil. Place the potatoes and mix lightly so that the oil coats the potatoes.

Place the tray in the center of the preheated oven and bake until slightly golden (alternately you can also fry the potatoes).

Heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds, bay leaves and the coarsely ground paste. Be careful as the paste splutters a lot.

Saute the paste on a medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the coriander powder and salt and cook for another 10 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally.

Add the baked potatoes. Mix lightly, cover the bowl and let it cook for 10 mins, stirring occassionaly.

Add the tamarind pulp. cover and let cook for another couple of minutes.

Remove from the heat, but leave the pan covered. To enhance the taste and the flavours, prepare afew hours in advance (previous evening for today, or in the morning for the evening.

Serve at room temperature, after garnishing with the rock salt, lemon juice and coriander leaves (garnish just before eating!).

Enjoy the potatoes - while I enjoy a prolonged India trip. Will be away for a month, will be in touch with you again in February.

Welcome 2012- Coffee Chocolate Chequered Cake (eggless)

2012-01-03T19:41:00.000+01:00

Wishing all of you a very happy and successful New Year! I hope this year bring loads of love, joy and happiness to your lives.

I welcomed the new year by making this chequered cake. Normally, when I bake a cake for just the 2 of us, I avoid using rich icing, but since this cake was meant not just for us, I took the liberty and used a very (calorie) rich icing.

The cake turned out quite well, in fact, my hubby especially wished for this cake on his birthday. The combination of both the cakes and the espresso-butter icing complemented each other really well. Now that definitely is a good way to start a new year :-)

Ingredients

Coffee Cake

1 cup - whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - soda bicarbonate

3 tbsp - sugar

a pinch of salt

100 ml - condensed milk, sweetened

5 tbsp - buttermilk

5 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 - nespresso chocolate espresso (approx 50 ml), cooled

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease generously a 21 cm / 8 inch round cake pan.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, soda bicarbonate, baking powder and sugar.

In another bowl, mix well the condensed milk, oil, buttermilk and espresso.

Make a hole in the center of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.

Pour the batter in the greased cake pan and place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 25 mins or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake rest in the pan for a couple of minutes.

Invert the cake and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Cake

1 cup - whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - soda bicarbonate

3 tbsp - sugar

4 tbsp - cadburys cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

100 ml - condensed milk, sweetened

5 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

7 tbsp - buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease generously a 21 cm / 8 inch round cake pan.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, soda bicarbonate, baking powder and sugar.

In another bowl, mix well the condensed milk, oil and buttermilk.

Make a hole in the center of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.

Pour the batter in the greased cake pan and place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for appx 25 mins or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake rest in the pan for a couple of minutes.

Invert the cake and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Espresso Butter Icing

250 grams - unsalted butter at room temperature

1 3/4 cup - sugar

1 tsp - vanilla extract

2 - nespresso chocolate espresso, cooled

Add the butter and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Cream the butter using an electric mixer. Add the sugar and espresso, a little at a time and beat well on medium speed until creamy and light.

Assembling the Cake

Cut out two small circles from each cake. I used a 5 inch and a 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out the circles. So now you have, for each cake, an 8 inch ring, a 5 inch ring and a 2 inch circle.

Brush the sides of the cut out circles and the insides of the cakes with the espresso-butter icing.

Reassemble the cakes with the cut-out pieces, replacing the middle ring with the piece of the alternate colour - you will now have two cakes with alternate coloured rings.

Apply the icing on the top of one cake and carefully place the other cake on top.

Cover the sides and the top of the cake with the rest of the icing.

I decorated the cake with some chocolate ganache and dusted the cake with cocoa powder.

Notes

If you have just 1 cake tin then let it cool completely after the first cake before baking the second in it.
Let the cake cool completely before cutting out the circles.
Brushing both the sides and the insides of the circles helps in keeping the pieces together, and more icing is not necessarily bad either.
For leveling the icing on the cake: Dip the knife in hot water for a minute, wipe the knife and carefully use the hot- dried knife to level the icing on the cake. This will enable you to give the icing a smooth and even look. Repeat if required, but always use a hot dry knife.
Both the cakes are supposed to be less risen than normal.

Enjoy!

Exotic Veggi Burger

2011-12-25T23:31:00.000+01:00

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas! For those who do celebrate it - hope you had a wonderful and happy time with your families and loved ones.

My husband is a die hard burger fan - and is ready to eat one anytime, anywhere. So- especially for him - I made these burgers today for lunch. It did take quite a bit of time making and assembling these, presenting them in a nice way and finally clicking the photos and the rest of the work. After finishing lunch, I happened to talk to both my mom and MIL. As usual, they asked what we had had for lunch, and I told them about the burgers.

My mom was quiet for a second and then she said, "You have a lot of passion and patience - that must have taken a lot of time and effort!" and believe me, that one small sentence meant a lot and covered so many unsaid emotions. It's normally not very easy to impress my mom, but she definitely made my day with that one small sentence. Then, I called up my in laws and had a chat with my MIL. It was the same conversation all over again. She was a little more expressive in letting out her thoughts - but with the same basic content - "that must have taken a lot of time and patience!", and she took down the recipe as well. After talking to both of them, I was basking in a small pool of sunshine and happiness despite the cold gray outside, and enjoying my Christmas thoroughly.

And of course the official taster (my dear hubby) had a big smile on his face throughout the lunch, and for half the day after that!

Well, the moral of the story is - sometimes, when I am in a hurry or in a bad mood or simply run out of patience, I do try and take a short cut. Now, as I am writing this, I am saying to myself - it IS worth the time and effort and sweat, not to take shortcuts, to keep the passion flowing, to go on creating new recipes.

So hold on...this is a long one!

Ingredients

Guacamole

1 - ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped

1 - onion, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp - lemon juice

1 - green chilli (or according to taste)

3 tbsp - olive oil

salt and pepper according to taste

garlic (optional)

1 1/2 tbsp - coriander leaves

Put the avocado pulp, oil, onions, green chilli, garlic, lemon juice, coriander leaves, garlic, salt and pepper in a mixer and grind coarsely. Keep aside.

Tomato Gooseberry Relish

2 medium size - tomatoes, chopped

2 - gooseberries (amla), pitted and chopped

1/2 cup - red bell pepper, chopped

2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped

2 - 3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 - green chilli (or according to taste)

1 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 1/2 tbsp - coriander leaves, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a non stick pan. Add the pepper, ginger, chilli and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes on medium heat.
Add the gooseberries and cook until they are slightly tender. Add the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients and cook until the tomatoes are soft.
Remove from the heat and let it cool. Grind in a mixer. Keep aside.

Zucchini Patties

1 - zucchini, grated
1 - onion small size, peeled and grated
1 - green chilli - finely chopped
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 - potato medium size, boiled, peeled and grated
2 tbsp - chives, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
sunflower oil to pan fry the patties

Squeeze the excessive water out of the grated zucchini and onion. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
Make 6 round patties and pan fry them on medium flame until both the sides are evenly golden.

Beetroot Patties

1 - beetroot, peeled and grated

1 - carrot, peeled and grated

1 - potato medium size, boiled, peeled and grated

2 -3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1 - green chilli (or according to taste), finely chopped

2 tbsp - parsley, finely chopped

1/4 tsp - garam masala powder

1/2 tsp - dried mango powder (amchur)

salt and pepper to taste

sunflower oil to pan fry the patties

Squeeze the excessive water out of the grated beetroot and carrot. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
Make 6 round patties and pan fry them on low flame till both the sides are evenly golden.

Onion Rings

1 - onion, peeled and cut into rounds
oil to pan fry
salt and pepper to taste

Pan fry the onion on a medium flame until slightly burnt. Sprinkle the salt and pepper.Turn carefully and fry until the other side is slightly burnt as well.

I made the baguette following the recipe from the "Artisan Bread in five minutes a Day".

Butter to toast the diagonally sliced baguettes and I used some dried basil to give a little flavour to the baguettes.

Cheddar slices

green salad of your choice

Vinegar onions (I used one with balsamico)

Apply the guacamole to one side of a baguette slice. Put some greens on top of it (I used lambs' lettuce, aka corn salad). Put the zucchini patty and then the cheese slice onto it. Coat the 2nd piece of baguette with the guacamole and put the coated side on the top of the cheese. Apply the tomato-gooseberry relish on the top of the 2nd piece of baguette, put some greens, put the beetroot patty and cheese slice. Coat the 3rd piece of the baguette with the relish and put the coated side on the top of the cheese.
Insert a skewer into the burger and top it up with the balsamico vinegar onion.

Serve the burger hot and fresh with the salad, pan fried onions, guacamole dip and tomato gooseberry relish. Enjoy the happy faces.

Chocolate Cinnamon Christmas Cookies

2011-12-20T00:29:00.000+01:00

This time around, inspired by the christmas spirit and by the lovely smells of the season, I baked a whole lot of cookies. My hubby and I decided, rather than the two of us eat up all of them and get fat - he takes some to his office and I would give some to my friends.So after finishing the daily chores, I finally got the time in the evening, after dinner, when my hubby was lost reading a book and I was in the cookie dough :-)

By the time, I finished baking these, it was past midnight. Actually, I like baking in the night, after finishing the rest of the work, that's when I can concentrate best. I do not have to think about anything else, do not have to attend phone calls, which is generally when I tend to lose the track of time.

Before packing the cookies in their respective boxes, I tasted one and was really happy with the outcome, I could have easily had a few more, but resisted the temptation. Actually, I did not want my friends to have less, you see ;-)

This recipe is adapted from the Weihnachts Bäckerei, a German recipe book that I borrowed from a friend.

These cookies were so good that I have been already asked to make them again. Now that definitely is a good sign, isn't it? :-)

Ingredients

50 grams - chocolate 70%, finely grated
250 grams - all purpose flour (maida)
100 grams - blanched almond powder
100 grams - castor sugar
175 grams - cold butter
2 tbsp - milk
1 tsp - cinnamon powder

1 tbsp - cocoa powder

1 tsp - dried ginger powder (saunth)
a pinch of salt

For rolling - 1 tbsp cocoa powder + 4 tbsp vanilla sugar, mixed together in a bowl

Method

Mix together the flour, almond powder, castor sugar, cinnamon powder, dried ginger powder, salt, cocoa powder and finely grated chocolate in a bowl.

Add the small pieces of cold butter and the milk into the flour mix and rub together with the fingers until it forms itself into a dough.

Make 2 rolls out of the dough. Cover the rolls with plastic wraps and let them chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C and line a baking tray with a baking paper.

Take out the dough from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, cut the rolls into small pieces, flatten each piece slightly, give a slight fork impression on the center of each cookie(optional) and place them on a lined baking tray.

Place the tray in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 15 - 18 minutes.

Take out the tray from the oven and immediately roll each cookie in the cocoa-vanilla sugar mixture and place them on a wire rack to cool completely before storing.

Enjoy!

Eggless Molten Lava Cake- Especially for you my dear sis!

2011-12-14T22:15:00.001+01:00

My sister recently got engaged to be married, and the wedding takes place in January. I asked her a few days ago if she wanted anything and immediately came the reply, "Yes, I want a dessert platter from you." And, she especially requested for Molten Lava Cakes.

I will certainly make her a dessert platter when I am in India - but for the time being, I wanted to give her a virtual treat with the recipe for her favourite cake. As it happened...I got busy talking on the phone, forgot about the cakes and baked them a bit too long (around 20 rather than the optional 12 mins). Hence they were a little stiff inside, as in this photo below, even though the taste was perfect.

I felt a little bad that because of my carelessness the cakes did not turn out as my sis would have loved them to be - although the taste was great, they were not as gooey and molten on the inside as they should have been. So, of course, I decided to bake another lot, and this time my eyes were fixed on the watch and exactly after 12 minutes, I took the cakes out of the oven, clicked the photos and also tasted it. I was very happy with the result this time, and I hope my sister likes them too, at least virtually!

I made the cake according to my sister's taste and therefore have used chocolate with 50 % cocoa. Personally, I would have used darker chocolate. Feel free to use the chocolate of your choice.

Do you have any other wishes, dear Sis? I'd be more than happy to fulfill them :-)

Ingredients for 3 cakes

50 grams - 50% chocolate
6 tbsp - water
30 grams - butter
30 grams - whole wheat flour (aata)
10 grams - castor sugar
1/2 tsp - baking powder
a pinch of salt
60 grams - 50% chocolate for the molten part, divided into 3 parts of 20g each.

Method

Melt the 50g chocolate in a double boiler.

Remove the chocolate from the heat. Let it cool for a couple of minutes. Add the water and butter. Put it back on the double boiler and keep mixing until the butter melts.

Remove from the heat and let it cool for 3-4 mins. Meanwhile, put the flour, baking powder, salt and castor sugar in a bowl and mix.

Add the flour mixture spoon wise to the chocolate mixture, and mix well before adding the next spoonful.

Pour the batter into a greased mould, filling half the mould, place the 20 gram chocolate piece in the center and pour a little more batter over it until the chocolate piece is covered.

Place the moulds in the center of the oven preheated to 180 degrees C and bake for around 12 minutes for a yummy lovely gooey inside (and 20 minutes for a little stiff inside or if you are as forgetful as I am!).

Unmould and sprinkle a little castor sugar on the cakes.

Serve warm with icecream, fruits, whipped cream or as it is. It tastes simply awesome.

Enjoy!

Hot and Cold Soup!

2011-12-11T23:29:00.000+01:00

Hope you all had a great weekend. We had a great one -finally, after a long wait, we had the first snow of the season, and enjoyed it like little children :-) To celebrate the first snow, I made this Hot and Cold Soup.

I have noticed something ever since I started my food blog: my friends and family always call me whenever they eat something interesting, or notice a new way of presenting food, or a new garnish and sometimes, even when they've had something weird.

This soup idea was given to me by a friend who had a mexican hot and cold soup in a restaurant. She described the 3 layers, and that it was served in a glass and that it was very interesting. So, I borrowed the basic presentation idea and made my own version of this hot and cold soup.

The final verdict - It was a brilliant idea, I was happy with the taste of all the three different layers and the crispy zucchini skin added the zing. My hubby had a big smile on his lips when I served this soup and the smile stayed on after the first spoonful which is a surest sign that the recipe was a hit.

Ingredients

Ginger-Garlic-Chilli Paste

2 inch piece- ginger, peeled, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped

2 - green chillies

Grind together the ginger, garlic and chillies using a little water.

First Layer

1 - zucchini

1/4 cup - onions, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp - mint leaves, finely chopped

5 pcs - sage leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp - ginger-garlic-chilli paste (more or less)

1 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1 - bayleaf

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup - milk

Method

Peel the zucchini, save the skin and keep aside. Cut the zucchini into small pieces.

Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the cumin seeds and bayleaf. When the seeds start spluttering, add the 1 tsp of ginger-garlic-chilli paste and saute for a min on medium heat.

Add the rest of the ingredients except 1/4 cup of milk. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the zucchini turns soft.

Let it cool, remove the bayleaf.

Add the zucchini mix and 1/4cup of milk to a mixer and puree.

Transfer the pureed mixture to a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Second Layer

2 cups - low fat yogurt

1/2 tsp - dried mint leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup - milk

1/2 tsp - sugar

1 tbsp - olive oil

Take a tray, put 2 layers of dish towels on the tray and put a wet muslin cloth on the top of the towels.

Spread the yogurt on the wet muslin cloth and leave it for appx 15 mins.

Remove the yogurt with the help of a spoon and a good nice thick hung yogurt is ready. (By the way, you can use this hung yogurt for all sorts of deserts as well – and is a much quicker method than the usual actual "hanging").

Put the yogurt in a bowl, add the salt, pepper, dried mint leaves, sugar and mix. Add the milk spoon wise and mix well before adding the next spoonful. Finally add the oil and mix. Let it chill in the refrigerator.

Third Layer

1 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 tbsp - ginger-garlic-chilli paste

2 - big size tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 cup - onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup - red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 pieces of cloves

2 tsp - cream

salt and pepper to taste

a generous pinch of sugar

Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic-chilli paste and cook for a minute. Add the cloves, onions and red bell pepper and cook until the onions are soft.

Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and cook. Lastly add the cream and sugar and cook for half a minute and remove the mixture from the heat.

For the Zucchini Crisps

Grease a small baking tray, put the zucchini skin on the tray, sprinkle a little salt, pepper and citric acid and bake in a preheated oven to 220 degrees C until crisp.

Put the zucchini cream in the serving glass. Carefully add the yogurt layer (I put the yogurt into a whipping bag with a big nozzle, for a neat result) and finally add the hot tomato mix on the top. Garnish it with the zucchini crisps and some chilli threads.

Serve while the top layer is still hot.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Relish

2011-12-08T13:20:00.000+01:00

December is my favourite month of the year- in december both my hubby and I celebrate our birthdays as well as our weddnig anniversary – not to mention Christmas and New year...and of course, lots of pre christmas dinner parties... which means loads of good food and fun. For this one month, amongst all the partying, I normally forget all about calorie intake and simply indulge and enjoy.

So I thought, at least, I could indulge with something a little healthy (which has kind of become a synonym of my name, according to my best friend!), to compensate all the rich good food and keep a balance.

This week, when my hubby bought this box of cranberries, the moment I saw the box, it was very clear in my mind what I was gonna do with them. This recipe is very easy to make and tastes really awesome.

I had it with some rosemary and cheese crisps, while my hubby enjoyed it with papad / poppadams and it tastes good with Roti or bread.

The sourness of the cranberries, the flavours of all the spices and a slight sweet hint makes this relish an instant hit. We enjoyed this so much that my hubby already got another box of cranberries :-)

Ingredients

100 grams - cranberries, cut into half

1/8 tsp - fennel seeds (saunf)

a generous pinch of nigella seeds (kalonji)

3 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 - red whole chilli

1 tbsp - raisins

1/4 tsp - turmeric powder (haldi)

1/2 tsp - red chilli powder, more or less

1 tsp - coriander powder (dhaniya powder)

1/8 tsp - garam masala powder

1/4 tsp - mustard seed powder (peesi rai)

salt to taste

2 tbsp - water

a generous pinch of asafoetida (hing)
2 - bayleaves

1 1/2 tsp - sugar, more or less

Method

In a bowl mix together the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, garam masala powder, mustard seed powder with 2 tbsp of water and keep aside.
Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the fennel seeds, nigella seeds, hing and red whole chilli.
Add the spice paste to the oil and saute for a minute on medium heat.
Add the cranberries, raisins and mix. Cover the lid and cook on medium heat until the cranberries are soft.
Add the sugar and cook again for half a minute.
Remove from the heat and serve. The relish tastes good hot as well as cold.

Enjoy!

Spelt Shortbread

2011-12-04T23:33:00.001+01:00

For me, cooking and baking is a stress buster, it really helps me to keep my calm. A little while ago, I was really in a foul mood, so bad, that, my head was hurting me. I thought, if I don't do something, this bad day could turn into a very bad day.

So, of course, I went into the kitchen. Took out the baking tray, whole wheat flour (aata), all purpose flour (maida), baking powder, sugar, oil and even butter (which I normally do not use much in my baking) but, then without doing anything, I left the kitchen, went to the study, turned on the computer, thought this would help. I started organising the desktop, deleting unwanted mails, when suddenly my eyes fell on an email from my friend with the subject "Shortbread". I opened it, read it, went to the kitchen and started making it. While making it, believe me, I did not for once think about what happened a while ago, and got busy making the shortbread.

Thanks to this good friend of mine, who gave me this recipe, I was back to normal that day. Oh, by the way, the smell that emanates from the oven, when this lovely shortbread is being baked, definitely made me very happy :-)

Ingredients

125 gram - spelt flour (you can also make it with maida instead of spelt flour)

50 gram - cornflour

15 gram - semolina (suji)

125 gram - butter unsalted at room temperature

70 gram - sugar

a pinch of salt

castor sugar (optional)

Method

Add the sugar and the butter to a bowl and mix well with your hands.
Add the semolina, cornflour, spelt flour (you can also use maida instead of spelt flour) and salt in another bowl and mix.
Add the flour mixture, a little at a time and mix in with the butter, by the end, you will get a soft dough.
Put the dough in a small rectangular baking tray and press the dough, with the palm of your hand and level it using an inverted small flat botommed bowl or cup (I used a stainless stell bowl). Alternately, you can also roll out the dough using a rolling pin and transfer the rolled out dough on to a baking tray. (the former method is quicker and fuss-free)
Using a knife, cut to the size you wish to have. (My shortbread pieces were 2.5 cm wide and 5 cms long). Don't forget to prick the dough with a fork.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees C for 38-40 minutes.
Let the tray rest in the oven for 2 minutes, take out the tray and immediately, cut again where you cut previously to seperate the biscuits and prevent breaking.
Sprinkle a little castor sugar on the top of the shortbread and let it cool completely before storing it an air tight container.

Enjoy!

Tiny Pineapple Wonders!

2011-11-21T22:49:00.000+01:00

Early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise. Learnt this classic piece of human wisdom when I was in Kindergarten. However, applying it to daily life is another matter altogether. For both my hubby and me, it's the opposite case. We both are not morning people.

Many a times, whilst reading, or surfing the net or in my case also following what you guys have been up to, we have these sudden hunger pangs and cravings to eat something. My hubby generally settles for something junk, while I prefer having a cup of warm milk with biscuits (I am a milkaddict). But, this weekend, on saturday midnight, my dearest really wanted to have something sweet and we were, a rare exception, out of chocolates. So, in the middle of the night, I baked these tiny wonders, obviously he was more than happy to help me.

I adapted my recipe Bournvita Bundt Cakes a bit and came up with these cute looking things. Pineapple and coconut were a beautiful combination. And it just took just around 6-7 mins of baking time.

We had a little mid-night tea party, and there was a very happy face sitting beside me and seeing him happy, I was the happiest :-)

Ingredients

2 tbsp heaped - whole wheat flour (aata)

1 tbsp heaped - pineapples, finely chopped (one slice from the can)

1/8 tsp - baking powder

2 tbsp - honey

2 tbsp - sunflower oil

2 tbsp - coconut milk

2 tbsp - dessicated coconut

a pinch of salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together the pineapple pieces with the rest of the ingredients.
Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly.
Spoon the batter into the paper moulds and put them on a baking tray.
Place the tray in the center of the preheated oven and bake for around 6-7 minutes. Serve.

Enjoy!

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

2011-11-11T22:59:00.000+01:00

It's been ages since I made some pudding, and have had a rising desire for pudding for some days now. But the winter is coming - which generally means much more rich food and therefore, the recipe that I am gonna share with you is relatively healthy, and at the same time very simple to make and delicious and of course chocolatey.

So, it fit perfectly last weekend, as I was thinking about making something new, while my hubby was net-surfing - he stumbled upon this website, where he saw this recipe and he shouted from the study, "Hey! I found a very healthy-chocolate pudding recipe online. I think, it's something for you."

I was busy in my thoughts, and did not really pay attention to what he was saying, partly also because of the loud music on Radio (I always have music on when I am cooking). He shouted again, and when he did not get any response from me, he came to the kitchen, and said, "I have been calling you, but forget it, do we have avocado at home?" "Yes, we do, but why?" I said. He dissappeared for a minute, and came back with a print out and said with a grin on his face, "Today's dessert". How could I refuse making this recipe, especially when my dearest so expectantly gave me the recipe.

Of course, we had this dessert that day, with a few teeny-weeny changes from my side. This is the link, where he found that recipe, and, here is how I made it.

Ingredients

1 - ripe avocado, peeled and seeded

2 tbsp - butter unsalted

3 tbsp - cocoa powder

3 tbsp - honey (adjust according to your taste)

1 tbsp - walnuts, very finely crushed + to garnish

a generous pinch of cinnamon powder

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup - coconut milk (more or less) (you may also use almond milk)

Method

Put the avocado and butter in a bowl and mash together with a fork until smooth.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix vigorously until everything is mixed and smooth.

Garnish with the crushed walnuts and serve. (if the pudding ends up too thick, correct the consistency by adding a little more coconut milk to it)

Have a lovely weekend!