Rasoi

Announcing Cooking with Whole Foods - Peanut

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:35:00 +0000

I think it has become quite common on my blog to make false promises (by me). I apologize for the same. But, the circumstances are so that I'm unable to blog often. Yesterday I received an email from Kiran of Sumadhura that I'm supposed to host Cooking with Whole Foods Event for Feb 2012 - Apr 2012. Honestly speaking, thanks to you, Kiran, for reminding me coz I've compeletely forgotten that I've taken this responsibility. Well, it happens if you are away from blogosphere and fellow friends. This is the first time I'm logging into my blog in this new year 2012 ( though it's no more new!!). Anyways, I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year 2012.

So, here I announce the first event of this year on my blog "Cooking with Whole Foods - Peanut". This event will hosted on Rasoi from today (Feb 10, 2012) till April 10, 2012.

Well, if I recall "Why have I chosen Peanut as the main ingredient?" then the reason is I had done shopping the same day and bought Peanuts. When I was going through Kiran's blog looking for available slot to host this event, I saw that it was occupied for the whole year and that too with amazing ingredients. Finally I found an empty slot during Feb 2012 and decided that I'm going to host this event. But, I had no idea about the ingredient and suddenly I saw the pack of peanuts.. Voila!! Peanuts became the star ingredient for this event. I shot an email to Kiran, she said "Yes" and almost after 1 year she sent me another email reminding me "Hey! It's time for your peanuts..." (Just kidding..)

According to Wikipedia, peanuts have many uses (Well I agree to this as well.) They can be eaten raw, used in recipes, made into solvents and oils, used in make-up ( I didn't know this), medicines, textile materials, peanut butter, as well as many other uses. Peanuts are used to help fight malnutrition. High protein, high energy and high nutrient peanut-based pastes that were developed to be used as a therapeutic food to aid in famine relief (sounds interesting.) Peanuts are rich in nutrients, providing over 30 essential nutrients and phytonutrients. Peanuts are a good source of niacin, folate, fiber, magnesium, vitamin E, manganese and phosphorus. They also are naturally free of trans-fats and sodium, and contain about 25% protein (a higher proportion than in any true nut). Isn't that amazing..

So guys, come up with mouthwatering, healthy and innovative dishes using peanuts. Share them with us. I'm looking forward to loads n loads of delicious recipes.

All you need to do is:

1) Prepare any dish using Peanut or having Peanut as a main ingredient and post them on your blog. send them to me between Feb 10, 2012 and Apr 10, 2012. Non-Bloggers can send their recipes with the details to the my email id.

2) Please link back your recipes to this event announcement and Kiran's event page. Do include the logo in your post.

3) Send your details:
Name:
Blog's Name:
Recipe's Name:
Recipe URL:
Photo (with 300px wide)

to reshrite@gmail.com.

4) Archived posts are accepted. Repost them and you are good to go.

I'll try to post some entries for this event. Also, I've some pending posts that I'll post soon in my blog. I really want to keep in touch with you all, my dear friends. Please do support me. Send as many entries as possible and make this event a huge hit. I thank Kiran for giving me this opportunity to host this event.

Reshmi

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

Baingan Ka Bharta

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:16:00 +0000

Baingan ka bharta.. a very popular punjabi cuisine.. As the main source of my cooking is my mommy, I've never heard about the recipe for baingan ka bharta from her.. She used to say "I'll prepare this one day," but she has not tried this so far.. And I was dying to prepare this authentic punjabi cuisine. One day, I was browsing through food blogs and came across Deesha's Vegetable Platter. She had a simple recipe for Baingan ka bharta.. Voila! there it is "Bookmarked".. And this recipe was served the same night for dinner...

The recipe is adapted from Vegetable Platter.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
2 red onions - finely chopped
2 tomatoes - chopped
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 chopped green chilli
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp kitchen king masala
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt as per taste
2 tbsp mustard oil
A handful of chopped cilantro

Method:

Make tiny slits around the eggplant, coat with mustard oil & roast the eggplant on the stove top, until the eggplant gets charred on all the sides.

Once the eggplant is roasted, allow it to cool. Later, peel off the skin & mash the eggplant with the back of a spatula. Add salt & lime juice, mix well & set it aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, Add cumin seeds, once the seeds pop & splutter, add green chillies & ginger garlic paste & saute

Add chopped onions & saute until they turn transparent. Add chopped tomatoes, add red chilli powder & saute till the tomatoes are cooked & oil separates

To this, add mashed eggplant. Mix well & cook for a while on low heat.

Add salt as per taste. Add garam masala & kitchen king masala, mix well. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with roti or rice.

This recipe goes to Priya's Bookmarked Recipes Every Tuesday event.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

Fried Noodles with Purple Cabbage and Tofu Manchurian

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:40:00 +0000

Hello my dear fellow bloggers... Its been long time... I'm so sorry guys I was busy with my studies.. I missed u all so much.. But, now I'm back................ Yippie!! I will try to post regularly..
So I'm going to resume blogging with one of my new experiments, "Fried Noodles with Purple Cabbage and Tofu Manchurian."

Whenever it comes to noodles, it means I'm running out of time and I'm looking for easy, quick to make and delicious as well.. And "Fried Noodles" top the list.. Also, I've never tried with manchurian because I had an impression that it's time-taking and requires lots of patience, and I was ignoring it for a long time...

But, now I'm into it.. Noodles in any shape or form are my weakness. Stir-fried noodles are one of my favorite dishes because it's delicious and a cinch to make. Just throw some ingredients together, and it comes out so good every time that I can almost eat the whole pan myself.

This dish can be made with wheat or egg noodles. I have used egg noodles because they have a chewier texture and have a pleasant yellow color. This dish is very flexible, you can add whatever protein and veggies you wish to include. I would love to add carrots, cabbage, snow pea pods, celery, red bell pepper, sprouts, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms..

Ingredients (Fried Noodles with Purple Cabbage):

A package of egg noodles / wheat noodles
1 cup of purple cabbage, finely sliced
Large handful fresh cilantro
½ onion, finely sliced
3 - 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 slices ginger
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
4 green onions, chopped

Method:

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to package instructions. Stop cooking the noodles when there's still a good chew. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, and set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of oil over high heat in a wok or skillet. First add the ginger slices and then garlic slices, stir fry until raw smell is gone. Now add onions and saute until onion turns translucent. Add purple cabbage, season with a little salt, and stir fry until the cabbage is cooked but still crisp/crunchy and definitely not mushy. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

In another skillet heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat and add your noodles. Toss them around, get them well coated in the oil, and break up any clumps. If it's too sticky and clumpy, go ahead and add more oil.

Pan fry the noodles, stirring and flipping them frequently until some of the noodles get a nice a crunchy golden brown exterior. Season with soya sauce, toss the noodles freuqntly and make sure everything is evenly coated with the sauce. Taste and see if it needs additional seasoning.

Add fried cabbage into the noodles and toss well until everything is mixed well.

Ingredients (Tofu Manchurian):

1 package low-fat Tofu, cubed

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn flour/corn starch
salt to taste
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste or ketchup
1.5 inch fresh young ginger, peeled and very finely grated
1 tablespoon garlic paste
water to make a thick batter
green onions, chopped, to garnish
oil to deep fry + 3 tbsp oil for making sauce

Method:
In a bowl, combine all purpose, cornflour, salt, ginger, garlic, red chilli powder, soy sauce and just enough water to make a thick paste. Add tofu cubes into the paste and mix well so that tofu is evenly coated with the paste. Keep it aside for an hour.

Heat oil in a wok to deep fry tofu. Add tofu pieces into the oil and deep fry them. Remove and drain them on tissue paper and keep aside.

In a bowl, combine the tomato paste/ketchup, soy sauce, and salt with about 1 cup of water and set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wide base pan. Add the minced garlic and the grated ginger and stir fry on high heat for about 4 minutes. Add the chopped onions and green chili peppers.

Saute everything together for about 3-5 minutes till the onions turn clear. Add the paste/ketchup, soy sauce that you combined in a bowl earlier. Simmer for about 3 minutes.

Mix the corn flour with 2 tablespoons of water add it to the pan and simmer for another minute.

Now add the fried tofu in the sauce and cook them at high heat while tossing them frequently till all the sauce coats all the tofu pieces. Switch off the heat a minute after you start hearing a sizzle.

Garnish with the chopped green onions. Serve immediately with fried noodles.. Utterly delicious!!!

Palak Pakora / Spinach Fritters

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 30 May 2011 09:04:00 +0000

Ah!! should I say "I'm back from a long break.." Well I say this everytime I blog with a hope that it's true... As you guys know I'm doing my Masters and for past two months I was held up with projects, reports and exams.. I believe I'm going to blog regularly... Yippie!!
I'm having an ongoing event in my blog.. Lemme tell you, I've received lots n lots of delicious and healthy entries.. I thank everyone for this active participation.. Love u all..

So, here is my entry for this event.. Palak pakora, one of our favourite tea-time snacks!!!

Ingredients:

Spinach (Palak), finely chopped - 2 cups
Onion, finely chopped - 1
Green Chillies, finely chopped - 2
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Gram flour (Besan) - 1/2 cup
Turmeric Pwd - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Pwd - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Salt - as per taste

For deep frying
Oil

Method:

Mix all the ingredients. If required add few tsps of water. Avoid adding excess water as the batter should be thick.

Heat oil in a deep pan. Take small amount of batter and drop them in oil in the form of small fritters.

Deep fry the pakoras until golden brown and crispy. Drain out excess oil and place them on a tissue paper.

Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney.

Enjoy!!

Sending this as an entry to Veggie / Fruit A Month - Spinach event hosted by me and started by Priya.

Announcement : Guest Hosting Veggie/Fruit A Month - Spinach

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Sun, 01 May 2011 05:58:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

After a long break, I'm back with a wonderful event - a brainchild of my dear friend Priya Mitharwal. I would like to thank her for giving me this oppurtunity to host this event for the Month of May. She is such an enthusiastic blogger with all those creative thoughts..

When I saw this event hosted by couple of fellow bloggers, I felt that I should be a part of this monthly event; and then I jumped on to Priya's event page and found she has an available slot for May.. Yippie!! there I go.. Well I didn't get much time to think about the veggie for this event, but I remember Spinach - "My Mom's Favourite" and now Spinach has to be the star ingredient when I'm going to host this event. :D

Spinach is among the world's healthiest vegetables. The bright and vibrant color of the spinach leaves is not only pleasing to our eyes but very nourishing as well. Rich in vitamins and minerals, it is also concentrated in health-promoting phytonutrients such as carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin) and flavonoids to provide you with powerful antioxidant protection. This leafy vegetable is a shield against inflammatory problems, oxidative stress-related problems, cardiovascular problems, bone problems, and cancers at the same time.

So guys, start working with our star ingredient for the month - "Spinach" and share your creative ideas with rest of the blogsphere..

Few Simple Rules:

1) Make recipes with Spinach as the main ingredient.It can be used in Salads, Soups, Stews, Curries, Gravies etc.

2) Recipe has to be vegetarian. (Eggs are allowed)

3) Link to this Announcement Page and Priya's Event Page.

4) You must make new recipes and post them in your blog.No archived entries please.

Please send in your entries with the subject of "Vegetable A Month – Spinach” , before/by May 31st, 2011 to reshrite@gmail.com with the following details:

Your Name :

Blog Name :
Recipe Name :
Recipe URL :
Recipe Photo :

Non bloggers can email me your name, recipe and picture at reshrite@gmail.com with the subject of "Vegetable A Month - Spinach" before/by May 31st, 2011.

Hope to see loads of creative and delicious recipes............ I'm Waiting!!!!!!!

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

Guest Post for "Celebrate Sweets: Ice Cream" : Chocolate Chip Ice Cream by Diksha

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:37:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

Couple of days back, I got an email by this cute girl Diksha.. It was so fun to read her thoughts.. She is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an Accounting major student. She loves to cook and often, helps her mother in kitchen. She likes Thai and Continental food; and likes Indian spicy food too..

So, this was a brief introduction about Diksha and now I'll leave this post to her...

Diksha - In her own words..

I'm not a blogger but I love to blog.. Blogging is my main source of knowledge about cooking.. I'm not good with cookbooks but I enjoy reading blogs where bloggers include their personal thoughts along with those wonderful recipes... I remeber, my first recipe was Thai Fried Rice and the rice got overcooked.. But thanks to my family, they still enjoyed the dish.. love u mama!! I believe may be not now but by the time I reach my mid 20s I'll be a good cook.. Just like my mama...

While I was blogging, I came across this event and its main theme is "Ice Cream".. How can I resist from participating when the star is my favourite ice cream.. I saw lots of amazing recipes linked to this event and thought giving my contribution too.. This is my third attempt of preparing ice cream.. The first attempt was "plain vanilla ice cream". I prepared it last summer and it was big flop.. I cried a lot but my mama said "Even though it doesn't look like an ice cream but it tastes great".. I love that comment and this gave me the courage not lose the battle.. Few months back, mama bought a new ice cream maker and now my job got very easy.. Last month, I've prepared chocolate ice cream and it was good.. my BF liked it!! And now I've chocolate chip ice cream and I loved the texture.. My mama liked it.. :D

Recipe:

Heavy Cream - 2 cups
2 cups half and half cream
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup good quality dark chocolate chips or shavings

Procedure:

Whisk the cream, half and half, sugar and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Heat until it reaches 170F to 175F. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into the bowl and refrigerate overnight. This procedure is to kill the bacteria.

Next day, pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and do according to manufacturer's direction, adding the chocolate chips or shaving about halfway through.

Transfer ice cream to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap such that it touches the surface of ice cream. Freeze for 4-5 hours.

Serve with chocolate sauce drizzled over it and few strawberries..

I hope you liked my recipe and as I'm not good at taking pictures so please!!!!!!!! :D

Sending this to Reshmi's "Celebrate Sweets: Ice Cream" event which was started by Nivedita.

Guest Post for Maitri: "Murrukku" by Raji

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend and why not, this weekend was too special.. "Our Indian cricket team won the World Cup!!" Few minutes before framing this post, I was watching the final shot by Mahendra Singh Dhoni that created the history... Believe me guys, when the camera focused Dhoni's expression I got goosebumps.. What a moment!!! Terrific... WOWOOWOW!!

And in my previous post "World Cup is Ours", my blogger friend, Sojo has asked to prepare some yummy sweets to celebrate this occassion.. Done sweetie!! This is due and I'll make it soon... Well I had prepared almond pudding on Saturday but before I can take pics, it was all over.. No.. not me... Sree is the culprit.. :D So for Sojo and for Team India, I'll prepare something sweet and post it at the earliest.. ;)

Okay!! So now moving on to the post of the day... Here we have Murrukku and it is prepared by Raji, our non-blogger friend. Raji was introduced to me by Priya Mitharwal. I was matched with Raji, along with Priya, for Maitri. At first, I was planning to send her the same ingredient that I've sent to Priya but then I thought as Priya is a friend of Raji, I mustn't send the same ingredient to both of them... But anyways, Raji was smart enough to identify the mystery ingredient sent by me...

So, girls please welcome Raji..!!

Raji, in her own words...............

Well, it all started when my good friend Priya told me about "Maitri"and also asked whether I will be interested .ofcourse, I said YES!

Then, I got matched with Reshmi who sent me an email asking about my address in order to send me the mystery ingredient.I was very excited and curious to know what it could be? I got the package on monday and when i opened to see what was inside it, guess what i found? I could immediately tell it was" ajwain" by the smell of it. Conicidentally, i was going to make murukku for my daughter who loves it so much. So, i used the ajwain(mystery ingredient) to the make murrukku.Thats abt the mystery ingredient.Wait a minute! let me tell u abt the best and sweetest part remaining in the package, which is this beautiful plate and lovely greeting card awaiting just for me sent by Reshmi as a token of friendship.I was immensely overwhlemed by her guesture.Thanks! Reshmi for this wonderful gift. What a great thought..I will always remember you.Thank you for being my friend.

Now for the recipe for Murukku:

Ingredients:
rice flour- 4 cups

urad flour -1 cup

butter softened 2-3 tbsps

ajwain(mystery ingredient) powdered- 1 tbsp

red chili pwd- 1 tbsp

salt -as per taste.

Procedure:

Mix all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl by adding water little by little.Knead the dough until it becomes soft( it shouldn't stick to the hand).

Now with the help of murukku press make the desired shaped on a plate and keep them ready.

Once the oil gets hot, gently slide these murukkus in the oil and fry them until it turns golden yellow.

Crispy golden yellow murrukkus are ready to eat.

Reminder: "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream"

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:13:00 +0000

Three more days to go... Come on friends!! I know in this era of "Weight Watchers", everyone is quite concerned about their diet.. But I believe "Summer is incomplete without Ice-creams" And I'm pretty sure that each one of us has their favourite delicious and yummilicious recipe that has ice cream in it.. So guys, make it a go... share your favourite recipe and make it a hit in every blogger's kitchen for this summer..

We have had some excellent entries from both blogger and non-blogger friends. Thank you all so much for your participation. But I'll encourage to participate more and make this event a big success.

This post is just a reminder that this event will end on April 6th, 2011. Also, there is an ongoing $25 CSN giveaway along with this event. So, if you haven't had a chance to link your entries yet, please do participate. For more information, visit "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream" event page.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

World Cup is Ours!!

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 20:22:00 +0000

After 28 years, India won the Cricket World Cup beating Sri Lanka in the Grand Finale by 6 wickets with 10 balls remaining.. What a wonderful match? Even though I didn't sleep last night because of this most awaited match but I'm still feeling energetic thinking of the fact that "World Cup is Ours!!".. The Champions are back........ We are the Champions!!

When India lost Sehwag on the very 2nd ball and Tendulkar in the 6th over at a score of 31-2, I told Sree "Honey!! What u say?? Are we going to win??" and he said "Just wait n watch!!" And then Gambhir and Kohli brought India back in the match.. Although there was pressure rebuilding when Kohli was out but then the Captain of Indian team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, played the captain's innings and what we've now is "Winning World Cup" playing on our home ground.. What a fabulous inning!!!!

New World Cup Champions, "Team Blue, Team India"

A Tribute to Master Blaster "Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar"..

[Image Source: Cricket.WorldCup-live]

Birthday Cake for a Birthday Girl... Happy Birthday to Me!!

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Yes... finally no more waiting. Today is "The Day!!" It is said "The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet" ;) But this birthday is quite special for me.. This is my 1st birthday in my blog-world!! I've set some targets and all I've to do is work on it.. So, I've lots of resolution to be made on this day.. Usually I've fewer New Year resolutions coz my year starts today and I make resolutions on this day.

Also, I'm bit upset coz this is my 1st birthday when I was blowing my birthday candle and there was only one voice singing a birthday song for me, tats Sree.. I miss my dad-mom, my sis, my brother and all those who love me and where a part of my birthday bash.. :( You know guys, Sree did his best to make me not miss anyone else and a gift for this day would be his love, his care and all those pampering that makes me feel "I'm not getting older, infact I'm getting younger!!" I admire how he plays the role of my parents, my life partner and my best friend.. I won't thank him for this coz this will not do justice to his love.. So, my first resolution would be to love him more than what he do.. Ever since I got married this is one of the resolutions I make on my birthday and would always be!!

Am I getting emotional???? Chill out, It's party-time, It's my birthday time!! I'm still in my sleepy pants and dancing around my laptop singing "happy birthday to me!!!".. Come on guys, join me and make it faster coz we got to wind-up soon before Sree is out of his shower.. He has asked me to stay away from laptop and I'm still wondering "Why??" Is this his way of giving me "Birthday Bumps!!"

As I suspected, today it is full of surprises.. Sree has asked me to get ready, he is taking me out somewhere.. It's a secret!!!!!! I love surprises and I'm very excited... :D May be he is going to buy me "Diamond Pendant" kidding guys.. I don't want to have this surprise, I'll faint!!! Wheeeeeeeeww.......

Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake. So, lets move on to "Cake Story..."

Age is a number and mine is unlisted!!

As Sree was very busy, also he was planning to take day-off on my birthday, so I thought I'll prepare the cake.. Well, it was my wish to see him preparing my birthday cake but tats fine.. may be next birthday ;)
So, my plan was make it a surprise.. I'll prepare the cake and when Sree is back from office I'll surprise him..

Yes guys, it's my birthday!! But tats fine.. I love to bake my birthday treat..

Now, I was preparing everything and I got a call.. Tring.. Tring..!! Lets see the conversation; R is mine and S is Sree's...

R: "Hello"
S: "Arrey, mei bol raha hun"
R: "Oh! kya baat hai, itne jaldi"
S: "I was thinking of getting a birthday cake for you"
R: "Oops!! Stop.. Did you order it?"
S: "Nopes.. Why? What happened?"
R: "Nothing"
S: "Are you planning something? Hey, don't do this"
R: "kya."
S: "I'm going to buy cake for u"
R: "Arrey, but I've started preparing"
S: "@#$%$^$#^ Why you didn't tell me?"
R: "Oooye Hello!! It's my birthday I'll do whatever I want to.. #@%@^@%"
S: "Ok.. ok.. I'm sorry baba!! Lets do like this.. You bake the cake and I'll do the cake decoration.. Deal??"
R: "Lemme think.. Hey, no!! You'll spoil my cake.. Never"
S: "Please.. please.. My sweetie.."
R: "Ok.. Tell me.. You know how to do icing??"
S: "Na"
R: "Then"
S: "Do we need to do icing to decorate a cake? :D Well, is it difficult to do?? :("
R: "No.. But if it is you, then Yes!!!"
S: "oh!! Now what.. ok you do the icing.. I will think of something else"
R: "Are you sure.."
S: "Yes honey.. I'll call u later on"
R: "Ok dear.. bye bye"

Well, I was feeling bad for Sree.. Poor Boy!! I've spoiled his planning.. :( The very next minute I got another call.. Tring.. Tring!!

S: "Hey, U remember we have seen bow over XYZ birthday cake"
R: "Ummmm.. Yes. So??"
S: "I'll do tat.. Once you do icing make sure you leave enough space so that I can top it with my Bow of Love"
R: "(cough) What?? Bow of Love.. Cool hubby.. Ok! go ahead. I've fondant with me so you can use it "
S: "Okie dokie.. I'll be back soon :D Bye"
R: "See you.. Bbye"

Wow, tats interesting "Bow of Love".. Lets see how is he going to do.. Then, I was back to preparation. I've bought a new hand-mixer and believe me guys "it's awesome to work with it" Whether it is mixing the batter or preparing icing, everything is done in minutes..

So my birthday cake flavor is "Chocolate and Cocoa-Strawberry Cream Cake" and as of now without "Bow of Love"

Here is the recipe!!

Ingredient :

For batter

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup sugar, powdered
4 eggs, separated
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil / butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

For Frosting

4 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp strawberry extract

Method:

For Batter

Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks, buttermilk and sugar till well blended and frothy. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; gradually beat into liquid mixture till blended.

Take another bowl and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks. Fold into the prepared batter.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F for 15 mins.

Transfer the batter to greased pans and bake for 20-25 mins or till toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool for sometime and then transfer to the wire rack to cool completely.

For Frosting

We are going to prepare frosting in 2 batches. One with cocoa and other with strawberry extract.

Beat 3 cups of whipping cream, 1 1/2 cups sugar and cocoa powder till stiff peaks form.In another bowl, beat remaining whipping cream, sugar and strawberry extract till stiff peaks form. Cover both the bowls.

Assembling

Cut each cake horizontally into two layers. Place one layer on the plate and layer it with cocoa frosting. Repeat with other layers. Spread a layer of frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Smoothen it with spatula.

Decoration

I did basketweave design for sides of cake and swirls at the top circumference of the cake using cocoa frosting. Using strawberry frosting, made a sequence of stars covering the lower circumference of the cake and also the space in between basketweave design and top swirls.

I was quite happy seeing the final outcome.. But it was still incomplete. Something is missing.. But, I was tired enough to identify what's missing.. So, I did nothing much and kept the cake in freezer.

As said, Sree came early and he was eager to see the cake.. He was so tempted that I doubt, atleast, he must have tasted the icing. lol!!! Within 1 hour he was in kitchen to start with his Mission : Bow of Love. I was surprised but impressed as well.. These are few moments that occur very rarely and I'm happy that I'm able to cherish them.. :D

"Mission: Bow of Love"

Sree started with lots of kick-boxing to my poor fondant and then coloring them.. I loved how he was estimating the amount of icing color to get the perfect tone.. Then another round of kicks, followed by rolling them out and finally forming beautiful and cute looking bow, I was enjoying each moment seeing him working hard to get his share of contribution to my cake.. :P

Atlast, Sree's Bow of Love was placed right at the top of my cake. After few more additions, my cake was looking perfect. I had lots of beautiful cake but this cake is so cute that I hate to eat it .. :(

Now I understand why I was finding my cake as "Incomplete" coz it was missing its Bow of Love. And my cake is complete with its perfect topping just the way I'm complete with my perfect partner..

So guys, thanks for reading the whole, not-so-long post :D and yes for your wishes.. Will describe how was my whole day in my next upcoming post..

Till then take care and enjoy!!

Sending this as an entry to Priya's Crazy for Cakes event.

Also, sending to Rumana's Treat To Eyes - Series 2 event.

Mooli ke Parathe (Radish Stuffed Flatbread)

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

Two more days.. I'm so excited! Yes this end-of-month is very special for me.. I've lots of plans, waiting for surprises and have resolutions all set to be implemented.. any guess?? Well, I'm not going to reveal the secret.. You guys have to wait for two more days.. ;)

Last weekend, we bought white radish, a very common salad stuff in North India.. As I was born and bought up there I've seen that neither lunch nor dinner is complete without salad and by salad I mean "slices of onion, white radish, tomato and green chillies with salt sprinkled over them." One plate of this salad is served even before your meal is served.. Sometimes this is tummy-filler or sometimes time-pass ;) Seriously guys.. this is one of my mom's kitchen tricks.. Whenever she is running late in kitchen, she will ask me/ my sister to prepare a plate of salad and serve it to my dad.. So, that by the time he is busy with those healthy slices, she can make-up her delay.. And after 26 years of their marriage now my dad is aware of this trick :D All credits goes to "The Great Reshmi"

Coming back to mooli ke parathe.. As you all know, I'm crazy about stuffed parathas and radish stuffed paratha is very high in nutritional value. Moreover, I use raw radish filling for my parathas. There are cooks who prefer the mixture being cooked before stuffed. But I love the raw flavor of mooli in my paratha..

Even though I've prepared this for couple of times but this time Sree recognized the amazing flavor and said "Mast hai yar.. Super" "Are you preparing it for the first time??" Well, I can understand. This happens when you are more busy watching T.V than eating what is served to you.. ;)

So, lets move on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

For Dough

Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Water - as required

For Filling

White Radish - 1, peeled and grated
Red Chilli Pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Aamchur Pwd - 1/4 tsp , optional
Salt - to taste

Method:

Take the grated radish, sprinkle little salt and squeeze out the excess liquid into a bowl. This will be used while preparing the dough. Keep it aside.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients (for filling) and keep aside.

Now, take wheat flour into a large bowl and add a tsp of oil to it. Using the excess water of radish, start kneading. If this is not enough for kneading you may use normal water. But I would suggest to make use of squeezed out water from radish. This enhances the flavor of parathas. Knead the dough to medium softness, cover and let it stand for 30 mins.

Divide the dough into equal portions. Roll each portion keeping the edges thinner than the center. Place a spoonful of raddish mixture in the center and roll it into a ball. Lightly flour it and roll into round parathas.

Heat a tawa or griddle. Place paratha over tawa and apply oil/ butter on the top. Flip and apply oil on the other side. Roast till both sides are golden and fully cooked. Repeat the procedure.

Serve hot with curd or pickle.

Enjoy!!

Sending this as an entry to "A Veggie/Fruit a month" event hosted by Sweet Artichoke and started by Priya.

Vegetable Puffs

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:17:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Yeah, we did shopping, cleaning, laundry and lots of cooking.. ;) While shopping as usual I was busy with the grocery and Sree was roaming here and there. And he bumped on puff sheets kept in the freezer section.. Aww!! he almost ran towards me and yelled "My Vegetable Puffs!!!!!!!".. You've promised me a month ago and still haven't prepared.. Oops!! it's true.. I was postponing it for a month.. Sree is crazy about snack items esp. spicy stuffs.. And chicken puffs is his favourite.. But I was least interested in non-veg puffs. So, finally we decided with vegetable puffs.

I was confused with the shape of puffs. Some are rectangular and some are triangular shaped. Then, Sree was explaining the concept.. To differentiate between puffs, vegetable puffs are rectangular, non-veg puffs are triangular and paneer puffs are bit bigger in size.. WOW!! what an explaination but atleast makes sense.. ;)

Finally, on Sunday evening we had vegetable puffs with a cup of hot tea. Here is the recipe for vegetable puffs.

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry Sheets - 1 packet, thawed
Potatoes - 2, boiled and mashed
Onion - 1, thinly sliced
Green Peas - 1/4 cup, boiled
Carrots - 1/4 cup, chopped and boiled
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red Chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric Pwd - a pinch
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

In a pan, heat oil and add cumin. When they sizzle, add onion and saute until translucent. Add ginger-garlic paste. Saute for few mins. Add all the masalas and 1 tsp water. Saute the masalas.

Add vegetables (mashed potatoes, boiled green peas and carrot) to the masala. Add salt and mix well.
Remove from heat and let it cool for sometime.

Preheat oven to 400F for 15 mins. Meanwhile, take puff pastry sheets over a lightly floured surface. Roll it out a little using rolling pin and cut into required shape and size. Mine was already cut into rectangular shape. So nothing much to do. :D

Take a spoonful of vegetable mixture and place it on one side. Make sure, you leave little space on sides of the sheet. Close the sheet from the other end. As sheets are bit sticky, so just press and seal the sides.

Bake them for 20-25 mins or until they are golden brown.

Serve hot with ketchup or chutney.

Enjoy!!

Barley Flour Cake with Chocolate Frosting - MAITRI friendship chain

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:36:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

Till now I had posts that used to speak about "Maitri", the mystery ingredient and passing it to 2 other bloggers.. But here I've something that initiates "Maitri" and declares that this friendship chain is functional from now onwards.. Many bloggers have shown their interest and we've listed them in our records.. I'm happy for this huge participation and looking forward to many more. I believe that most of us are aware of Arusuvai friendship chain and now they are running the second season of this chain.. I hope we will also make Maitri grow tremendously.

I agree the situation in USA is bit different from India. We've certain concerns and limited resources that restrain us from getting involved. When Priya & I discussed about this idea even we were concerned about the similar situations. And finally we decided to make it happen. I would encourage everybody in USA to be part of this chain..

To all those who haven't read about "Maitri" yet, please click here.

So, now with great pleasure let me explain how we initiated Maitri. It begin with Priya & I sending parcel to each other. Last Friday, I received my box of mystery. Well I was excited from the day when I was informed by Priya that she has mailed my package.. Wow!! I used to wonder what would be the mystery ingredient and I donno what is she going to send me.. Out of curiosity, even I did research on her blog and I was pretty sure she would send me something related to rajasthani cuisine.

On Friday, around 2:00 pm, I went out to check my mailbox and there I found this small box by USPS.. I rushed to my apartment and I was so excited that while I was opening box and taking out all the stuffs, I forgot that I'm supposed to take pics of everything sent to me.. Then what?????? I loaded everything back into the box and here are the pics of "Box", "mystery ingredient" and "very cute goodies" sent by Priya Mitharwal...

Box & the mystery ingredient...!!!

Salt - Pepper Shakers & Spoon Rest!!! Love you Priya, they are so cute....

Now coming to my experience with mystery ingredient.. Before this can u guys identify what was sent by Priya..

Well, at very first look I felt it is Whole Wheat and I checked with Priya.. After 2 hrs she replied "No!!" with a big happy smiley.. But now what to do?? I tasted one of the grains and realized that it is not Whole Wheat... It is "Barley"!!!!!!! I was so happy and sure as well that this time I'm not wrong.. Again I emailed Priya and checked with her.. After 2 hrs she replied "u r genius" with a big sad smiley... ;)

I did lots of research to prepare something special and delicious with this ingredient. I bookmarked some breakfast recipes, then went for brownies and finally ended up with Cake.. And here is the picture of "Barley Flour Cake with Chocolate Frosting" and this is dedicated to Maitri and to all of my blogger friends.. Do grab your piece of cake.. :P

I'm not a good baker so my cake is not with perfect finishing but yes it tasted awesome.. Of course, how can something prepared with all those gr8 ingredients can go wrong. The Barley flour gave a different flavor to cake and with thick chocolate frosting and marshmallow fondant red balls, it was simply irresistible.

Also, this cake is special for me because for the first time I've worked with frosting.. And yeah you guys can see the frosting is not applied perfectly.. But I love this look.... ;)

So, guys lets move on to recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups barley flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking pwd
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup oil
3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla

for icing

3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F for about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk the barley flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In the center of the bowl, make a well and add oil, egg yolks and vanilla. Beat with spoon until smooth.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold a fourth of the whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest.

Generously grease the baking pan. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Run a paring knife around the edges and then invert it onto a cake plate.

Meanwhile, prepare icing for the cake. In a work bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together and slowly add to the butter, beating well after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until well blended and fluffy.

Once the cake has cooled down to room temperature, frost it with chocolate frosting.

I had store-bought marshmallow fondant with me. So I added red color to it and kneaded well to get fondant evenly colored. Make tiny balls with fondant and decorate over the cake.

You can decorate your cake in number of ways but this was the least time-taking one.

Those who are interested to be part of Maitri, do leave a comment or email me at reshrite@gmail.com or priya at priya.mitharwal@gmail.com.

Sending this as an entry to Treat to Eyes: Series 2 event hosted by rumana.

Choco Cappuccino

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:35:00 +0000

Yesterday I bought a set of cute Verdi cappuccino cups and I was so excited to capture pics of them. What could be perfect than hot chocolate cappuccino poured into the cute little cups and topped with vanilla ice cream or whipping cream. I think I did justice to my cappuccino cups..

Believe me guys, I was just staring at them. Sree drank two cups of cappuccino and I was "still staring..!!!"

Now, "Why did I go for choco cappuccino?"
I like the deep flavor that chocolate imparts to coffee. It is like having coffee that has too much of cream and chocolate.. I love this Italian drink and when it is served in my cute cappuccino cups..

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup ( 2% milk)
Freshly brewed dark coffee - 1 cup
Chocolate syrup (Hershey's )- 2 tbsp
Vanilla Ice cream or Whipping cream - for topping
Instant coffee powder - for garnish

Method:

Place milk into a sauce pot and bring it to boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate syrup. Whisk until the chocolate is mixed well. Return to low heat and stir until frothy.

Divide the coffee into mugs and ladle the chocolate mixture over. Top it with vanilla ice cream or whipping cream. Sprinkle coffee powder over it.

Enjoy!!

Sweets Rolls/ Suruttai Poli

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Well this recipe needs no kind of introduction because from past two days this is the most tried one in blogsphere. Yes for ICC (Indian Cooking Challenge). But I'm not preparing it for the challenge and the reason is I've just requested Srivalli to consider me into this challenge. So, as of now I'm not the member of ICC and I cannot post this recipe for the challenge.. :(

Being a curious cat, I was unable to hold myself when I see sweet rolls prepared by many of my blogger friends and they look so pretty.. I love them!! And if you look at Nithya's clicks then... What?? Those clicks are fabulous.. The way she use props to make those simple looking dishes very special, hats off to you Nits!!

So, today I'm posting this recipe as an entry to Bookmarked recipes by Priya & Aipi. And this recipe is bookmarked from Nithya's 4th sense cooking.

Moving on to the recipe...

Ingredients:

For Filling

Roasted gram - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cashews - handful
Cardamom pwd - 1 tsp
Coconut ( scrapped) - 1 tbsp
Clarified Butter (Ghee) - 1 tsp

For Making Poli

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - a pinch
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

For Filling

Powder the roasted gram and sugar. Pour it to a bowl.

Take a pan and heat ghee in it. Roast cashew for few minutes until cashew turns golden in color. Remove and keep it on a tissue paper. In the same pan, roast coconut for 2 mins.

Powder the roasted cashew and mix it with powdered gram and sugar. Add roasted coconut to it. Mix well and keep it aside.

For Poli

Take all-purpose flour and salt in a bowl. Knead them into a soft dough by adding water to it little-by-little. Keep it aside for half an hour.

Now divide the dough into small parts and roll them into smooth balls. Using rolling pin, roll the balls into very thin circles ( almost semi-transparent) of around 10cm dia.

Heat oil in a deep-frying pan and put the polis into it. Fry them until half done ( about 10 seconds). Remove them from oil onto a plate and spread the filling over it. Roll them tight and keep it aside to let them cool.

Rolls would be soft when made but gradually would become crispy.

Serve and enjoy with a sip of Masala Chai!!!

Note:

1) While deep-frying polis, take care that they should not puff up like pooris. But they can have tiny bubbles here and there. Most of my polis were not perfect. They were in-between pooris and polis. I hope next time I'll get them perfect.

2) You've to work with piping hot polis so take care. Do not hurt yourself.

Did you guys read about "Maitri"? Please do visit here.

"MAITRI" - a friendship chain

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Hello Friends,

In last few weeks, many of you might have seen posts related to a wonderful friendship chain of food bloggers and non-bloggers alike called "Arusuvai". The moment Priya and I saw it (and I am sure many of you too), we so wanted to participate in it. But, then when we contacted the creators, we got to know that it is only for bloggers from India. Then, we kept thinking what to do to participate it.

And, what could be better than to start something similar over here in USA and Canada area. So, here we are (Priya and I) with this wonderful announcement, which we are sure many of you wanted to be part of and would surely participate (We are counting on that, so don’t let us down… lol).

So here we go with the beautiful banner!!

We are naming our chain as “MAITRI”, which in Hindi/Sanskrit means “Friendship”. This is going to be a chain, where we will have fun with food and make lots of new friendships.

Here is how it will work.

The main concept is that bloggers send “Mystery Ingredient” to each other (through regular mail USPS/UPS/FedEx) and then have fun cooking with it. Every blogger, who is interested in this chain will let us know through commenting to this post. As, we have bloggers interested coming in, we will be matching bloggers. It means that matching blogger “A” with blogger “B” and blogger “C”, and then blogger “A” will be sending “mystery ingredient” to blogger “B” and “C”. And then, blogger “B” and “C” will have fun identifying the mystery ingredient (if it is not already mentioned), cook with it, share the recipe with everyone. Then, each of blogger “B” and “C” will send another mystery ingredient to 2 other bloggers. I hope this explanation makes sense. If you have any questions, feel free to send us email or leave a comment and we will clarify.

Here are some basic rules for this chain:

1. It is open to both Bloggers and Non-Bloggers.

2. This is NOT restricted to Indian origin bloggers and anyone and everyone who owns a food blogger or a food enthusiast (non blogger) is eligible.

3. Bloggers and Non-Bloggers must reside in USA and Canada ONLY.

4. Bloggers and Non-Bloggers will be matched randomly by Reshmi and I and we will notify the respective bloggers and also maintain a page on our blogs which will be updated every few days.

5. Mystery Ingredient HAS TO BE STRICTLY VEGETARIAN (no meat or seafood or related products are allowed. If you have any doubts on whether or not a specific product will be eligible, feel free to let us know.

6. The recipe that you will share with all of us which you will make using the mystery ingredient HAS TO BE VEGETARIAN. No meat or seafood allowed. Eggs are allowed ONLY in baking.

7. The post which you will make for this chain has to have “MAITRI” word in its title and should link to both Reshmi and mine announcement posts.

8. Using the logo is MUST.

9. The Blogger and Non-Blogger need to cook and share recipe within 1 week from the date they receive the ingredient. This is just to ensure the chain keep glowing.

We will continue this chain till all interested Bloggers and Non-Bloggers are exhausted. Once the chain is over, we will start a second chain in appropriate time period.

We are hoping a heavy participation. So, keep your requests flowing and let us begin the chain. To start the chain, Priya and I will be sending each other mystery ingredients and then we will match with 2 bloggers each and proceed with the chain.

In case of any query, contact me at reshrite@gmail.com or priya at priya.mitharwal@gmail.com.
That’s all for now. Take care till next post.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

Reminder: "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream"

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:03:00 +0000

Have you participated yet? We have had some excellent entries from both blogger and non-blogger friends. Thank you all so much for your participation. But I'll encourage to participate more and make this event a big success.

This post is just a reminder that this event will end on April 6th, 2011. Also, there is an ongoing $25 CSN giveaway along with this event. So, if you haven't had a chance to link your entries yet, please do participate. For more information, visit "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream" event page.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

Award Time!!

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:48:00 +0000

Hello everyone.. It's great to see when your blogger friends share awards with you. You feel motivated and I always love such appreciation.

This time the award is shared by my two beautiful blogger friends Soumya & Hema.

As this award comes with a rule, I've to share with 15 bloggers. So, I would like to share this award with my 15 new blogger friends. They are:

1. Kalpana of Life with Spices
2. Ramya of Hot from my oven
3. Kavitha of Kavis Aromatic World
4. Savitha of Savitha's Kitchen
5. Tahemeem of Not So Gourmet
6. Divya of Divya's Recipes
7. Rachu of ammaandbaby
8. Shanavi of Kitchen Secrets
9. The Foodie of Vegetarian Tastebuds
10. Prathima of Prats Corner
11. schmetterlingwords
12. Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
13. Reshmi of Easy Cook
14. Plateful
15. Nancy & Vijay of Kitchen Gypsies

Rules:

1. Accept the Award. Post in your blog with the name of the blogger who has given you this award with the link to his/her blog.

2. Pass it on to 15 other blogger friends, to keep the ball rolling.

3. Let the nominated blogger know about their award (leave a message in their most recent post).

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

Day #5: Layered Crêpe Cake with Banana & Nutella Filling

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:26:00 +0000

Hello everybody!! I'm back with my Nutella 7-days marathon. I'm sorry for the break.. Sometimes I feel continuity is not my game.. :(

Whenever I think of something that is in between omlette and a pancake and of course better than both, then it is a crêpe... Preparing crêpe is not so common in my kitchen but I always love to have it with nutella and banana. Crêpe with nutella and banana is one of my favourite combos.

With this I got the idea of doing something with nutella and I got the recipe of the day & recipe for the marathon, "Layered Crêpe Cake with Banana & Nutella Filling". A cake that requires no baking.....

Initially, my plan was to prepare a pure Nutella Crêpe cake but then I modified my recipe by adding banana to it. Believe me guys, it was a Yum Yum!!

Here we go with the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp Butter, melted
2 tbsp Nutella
1 banana, thinly sliced

Method:

Sieve the flour into a deep bowl. Add egg and start whisking. Pour milk little-by-little and mix well. Add water, salt, sugar and 1 tbsp butter and mix well until smooth. The batter should be of heavy cream consistency.

Heat a non-stick pan at medium heat. Pour 2 tbsp batter and swirl into round shape. Cook for a minute or until golden brown and flip to other side for few seconds. Remove from heat. Let it cool for sometime.

Meanwhile, heat Nutella along with 1 tbsp butter for about 20 seconds in microwave. It depends on the microwave, so check in between. Nutella must be a smooth consistency so it will be easy to work with.

Now layer each crêpe with Nutella in between them. I included banana slices after 5 layers of crêpe with nutella filling and then another banana layer after next 5 layers of crêpe.

Cover the final layer of crêpe and edges with remaining Nutella. Garnish with banana slices.

Enjoy!!

Sending this to Rumana's "Treat to Eyes: Series 1" event.

Affogato

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:20:00 +0000

Coffee lovers rejoice! Here's the wonderful treat which goes as an entry for my blog's first event "Celebrate Sweets - Ice creams"... This Italian dessert is so simple yet absolutely divine.. A scoop of vanilla ice cream with a shot of hot expresso poured over makes it one of the perfect pleasures you can have with ice cream..

I found this recipe at foodnetwork.com.

So, lets move on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pint of vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup - hot expresso
1 tbsp finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Method:

Divide ice creams among the dessert bowls.
Pour expresso over the ice cream.
Sprinkle chopped chocolate and serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

Sending as entry to "Celebrate Sweets - Ice cream" hosted by me and started by Nivedita.

Also, sending to Bookmarked Recipes event by Aipi & Priya.

Celebrate Sweets - "Ice Cream" !! Event Announcement And A Giveaway..

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0000

I'm happy to announce "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream" event at Rasoi. And I would like to thank Nivedita for giving me this oppurtunity. This is the first event hosted at Rasoi and look at the coincidence, the first event I've participated in was "Celebrate Sweets - Halwa". I guess that was the starting of "Celebrate Sweets" event series.

I know it's still cold in some parts of the country.. Then "Ice Cream"? Well with this event, we all can share our recipes and we will be all set with a huge collection of sizzling recipes for upcoming summer...

As the theme suggests "Ice Cream" your recipe must have ice cream as the main ingredient. So you are all free to play with it and come up with your creativity..

Also, I've a $25 CSN gift code for a lucky participant and the winner will be picked by a random draw. The winner can use the gift code on any of CSN's 200+ online stores. Here you can find everything from chic pendant lighting to cute cookware to stylish modern dining room furniture.

"Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream" Event Rules:

Starting from today till April 6, 2011, 11:59 PM (PST) make anything sweet that includes ice cream in it.
Eggs are allowed in your dish.
You should add the event banner and link back to this event announcement page and also to Nivedita's event announcement page.
Older entries are accepted if reposted and updated with the link to the event announcement .
You can enter as many links as you want.
CSN gift card winner will be drawn using random.org
The event is open to everyone but the giveaway is open to USA and Canada residents due to shipping constraint. Indian-bloggers can gift it to their U.S. friends. I encourage everyone to participate in this event and share their recipes with the other blogger friends.
Non bloggers can email me their recipes and picture of dish at reshrite@gmail.com with the subject "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream".
The CSN winner will be declared on April 7, 2011.

Day #4: Nutella Souffle

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:36:00 +0000

I'm so happy when I see my Nutella turning out so good.. It's such a WOW to work with.. I never thought that you can do lot more with Nutella apart from just a spread on a slice of bread..

My 7-days marathon with Nutella is getting more n more addicting.. And "Nutella Souffle" is one of the outcomes of this passion...

For all the beliefs about this french dessert, souffles are not that hard to make. All you need to do is beat the egg whites to soft peak and then nothing stands in between you and your souffle. And I believe bakers are always ready for challenges!!

Also, you will find that the souffles will rise up while baking but will deflate and sink down as they cool off (as seen in the image below). This was so amazing to observe.. I'm in love with this dessert..

So lets move on to the recipe...

Ingredients: (2 servings)

2 tbsps Nutella
4 tbsps granulated sugar, divided

1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 large egg white
1 tbsps milk (I've used 2%)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp powdered sugar

Cooking spray

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Coat ramekin (6-ounce) with cooking spray; sprinkle each with granulated sugar.

Combine 2 tbsp granulated sugar, flour, nutella, and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes, stirring until smooth.

Pour this mixture into a medium bowl; let it cool for sometime. Stir in vanilla.

Place egg white in a medium bowl; beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining granulated sugar, beating until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat). Gently stir 1/4 of egg white mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Spoon mixture into prepared dishes. Sharply tap dishes 2 or 3 times to level. Add 1 tsp of Nutella in middle of the mixture. This will give souffle a goey center. Place dishes on a baking sheet.

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until puffy and set. Sprinkle each souffle with 1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar. Serve immediately.

Sending it to Rumana's "Treat to Eyes: Series 1" event.

Day #3: Nutella Little Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:17:00 +0000

While I was writing this post, I was thinking about my school and college days memories.. In between school n coaching classes we used to get few hrs gap but not enough to go home, get fresh n come back.. So what we used to do is head straight towards our favourite hang-out.. "Satyam Bakery" or "Utkal Sweets" or "Jalaram Sweets n Snacks".. Apart from tasting all types of pasteries, puffs, street food, there were two items which were "The must" for each one of us... "Britannia Little Hearts" and "a bottle of Pepsi or Coke or Fanta"...

A pack of little hearts will have not more than 15 biscuits and costs around 10 bucks, I suppose. This was way too costly to spend everyday with your pocket-money. But when this truly divine sweet biscuit melt into your mouth you usually forget about your pocket-money or those 10 bucks for 15 pieces.. That's the magic of "Britannia's Little Hearts"..

To be honest, when I came to U.S. I realized what's famous as "Little Hearts" is actually a French pastery called "Palmiers".. But still I would like to name my recipe as "Nutella Little Hearts" rather than "Nutella Palmiers"... :D

So, now lets move on to the recipe..

Ingredients:

Puff pastry sheet
Nutella - 2 tbsp/ pastry sheet or depends on your taste
Powdered Sugar - to sprinkle (optional)

Method:

1. Thaw the puff pastry. Unfold one pastry sheet and roll out with rolling pin, if required.

2. Fold the longest sides towards the center of the sheet. Gently roll the pin over it. Spread nutella over the sheet.

3. Again fold the longest sides towards the center. If you want you can spread another layer of nutella. Otherwise, dampen one side with water, fold it over the other side and gently roll the pin over it.

Do not press hard or else nutella will pop out from the open ends. Cover the log with a plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hr.

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Take out the folded pastry and cut into thin slices.

Place on the baking sheet . Bake for 8-10 mins, or until golden. Transfer to wire rack and let it cool down to room temperature.

Serve & Enjoy!!!

Sending it to Rumana's "Treat to Eyes: Series 1" event.

Day #2: Deep Fried Nutella

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:10:00 +0000

Last summer when Yummy team's fried ice cream won ST's Sizzling Summer Contest I was so amazed to find a recipe where you can fry ice cream.. That was unbelievable for me and even I gave it a try when I was in India.. After that this has become one of the hits in my mom's kitchen and also my 11 year old brother's favourite dessert.. ;)

Yesterday when I started 7 days marathon "Nutella Week", I had no idea what are those 7 recipes that I'm going to try with Nutella except "Nutella Cold Coffee"... So I started going through my bookmarked recipes in search of one that can be possibly tried with Nutella and I came across YT's fried ice cream... And there I got the idea of "Deep Fried Nutella".

At first sight, I felt it will be very easy to repeat the process with Nutella but then later on I realized "You gotta break your head for this"..

Firstly, Nutella has much smoother texture when compared to ice cream. So if you try to roll them into balls, there is a possibility that nutella may ooze out of the coating. Secondly, if I freeze it for sometime and then try to work with it. Then it is another big NO NO!! It is somewhat difficult to work with freezed nutella.. So now what next??

There is an option in between the two impossible options and with utmost care you can get the desired outcome.. What's that? Hold on guys.. There is always climax for every movie no matter how damm boring it is.. So just wait and keep reading..

Well well.. I will reveal this later on.. Let us move to the recipe.. :) Hope you will like it!!

Ingredients:

Bread (preferably white bread as it binds together easily. But I worked with wheat bread, my another challenge) - 2 slice per ball
Nutella - 1 tbsp per ball
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

Trim the bread crusts and place a tbsp of nutella over one trimmed slice.. There are lots of way of coating.. Here we are using bread slices. But we can use cornflakes, bread crumbs and powdered nuts.. And that requires even more patience to work on this dessert.. But it is always easy to use bread slices esp. white bread.

Place another slice over it and press firmly the sides of the slices. Do not start rolling it into a ball as nutella is very smooth in texture and may pop out. So just seal the sides of the bread slices and refrigerate it for minimum 1 hr.

Now take it out and immediately start rolling it into balls.. At this point, nutella has harden so it will become easy to work on..

After rolling into balls refrigerate it for another 1 hr or you can refrigerate it overnight.. You can preserve it for 2-3 days.

Deep fry them for 20-30 seconds as we do not want nutella to start melting.. Also bread gets fried soon. So remove it from heat as soon as you find bread turning golden brown in color. You will get yummy nutella covered with hot crispy bread.

Drizzle some honey or chocolate syrup and you are all set to impress your guests.. I'm sure your kids will love them...!!

Enjoy!!

Sending this to Priya Mitharwal's "Celebrate Sweets - Warm Desserts" event started by Nivedita.

Also, sending it to Nivedita's "Only Original Recipes" event started by Pari.

Day #1: Nutella Cold Coffee

noreply@blogger.com (Reshmi) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:13:00 +0000

I remember the first time I read about Nutella was in Aipi's blog and the first time I tasted Nutella was at a potluck party. And believe me guys, it's almost more than 6 months I'm planning to get a pack of Nutella for me but all in vane... Finally, last weekend I bought my favo Nutella and I was so eager to try out all those recipes that were bookmarked and were waiting for Nutella to be made available in my kitchen.

Now I'm all set with my Nutella and I've decided to celebrate the seven days including today as "Nutella Week". So starting from today, each day will have recipes dedicated to Nutella...

Today's star recipe is Aipi's famous Nutella Cold Coffee.. Within 2 hrs of this post by Aipi, Priya Mitharwal tried it and posted it on her blog.. Now you guys can imagine the charm of this recipe.. But, I had to wait for almost seven months to try it out and here I've it to share on my blog.. Trust me guys! it tastes divine..

Yesterday I had my class at 4:00pm and I had brunch at 11:00 am. So you can understand, by 2:00 pm I was craving to have something.. Besides having lots of assignments I had no time to prepare some snacks.. At that moment I saw my sweetie Nutella, still unopened, waiting for me.. How I can resist this? I jumped off my chair and within minutes I had my glass of Nutella cold coffee... I'm satisfied!! Thanks to Aipi for sharing this recipe..

Here is the recipe!! I've almost followed the recipe by Aipi.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup (I've used 2% milk)

Instant Coffee - 1 1/2 tsp

Nutella - 4 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Vanilla Ice cream - 1 scoop (for topping)

Method:

Blend all the ingredients except ice cream until it mixes well into smooth and frothy. Pour in a glass garnished with chocolate syrup. Top it with vanilla ice cream or whipping cream. Sprinkle some coffee powder over it and serve immediately..

Enjoy!!

I felt my assignments were getting over much faster with every sip of this delicious drink..

Sending this to Tried & Tasted hosted by Priya Mitharwal.

Also, linking to Aipi & Priya's Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday - Volume 30.