IndianSimmer - Indian food made easy plus more!

Moist Lemon Cake with Blackberry Cream Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:03:00 +0000

"Maa" she says, "my other mommy says that lemons are good for you. You should eat them ALL the time."
Yes, normal kids have an imaginary friend or maybe an imaginary pet? My daughter doesn't like normal, so she just took the liberty of creating an imaginary mommy. A mommy who lets her eat ALL the candies in the whole wide world, because candies make you strong. A mommy who buys her ALL the sparkly things in this whole wide world. A top of the line mommy she is. In short the "other mommy" is everything that this mommy is not!
So like every morning after waving and kissing everyone at home for a good 15 minutes and after promising that we will see each other soon, we left for school. She and I. With my hands gently yet firmly wrapped around her tender and pillowy ones, we started walking. Down the sidewalk, kicking every single stone on our way and cuddling with every passerby dog, we kept moving.

Then like every day we crossed this lemon tree outside of a house down the street. As usual we stopped under the tree, looked up and counted the lemons. Only this time the "other mommy" had a news for me and only this time she was right.
"Lets pick some Maa" she then said. "We can make yummy lemon cake". A very intelligent girl I have.

People say and with a very heavy heart I agree that she has taken everything after her dad. The way she looks, the way she reacts at situations and even the way she folds her hands when asleep.
On the other hand one can count in fingers the things she and I have in common. Our love for anything lemon is one of them.
So hearing her suggestion my heart yearned to just lift a hand, reach out and pick some of those unbelievably aromatic and juicy little devils. But "its not nice to take things without the owners permission". I had to go by that principle, at least in front of her.
"How about I buy a big bag of lemons before you get back from school?", was what I said instead. Squeezing her eyes and with a faint smile, just like her dad, she shook her head in agreement. We moved forward.

Sure enough as soon as the garage door opened in the evening and she plunged out of the car her first question was, "did you buy a big bag of lemons for a yummy lemon cake, Maa?". "Yes, lets wash our hands and make the cake!".
We washed our hands, and got straight to measuring, cracking, melting and stirring. "Let's drop some blackberries in there too", she suggested in between munching on them and so we did.

By the end there was flour all over my kitchen floor and she ate more sugar than what went into the cake. But the cake that came out was definitely the best cake in this whole wide world!
We have saved some for our Mothers Day celebration. A day to celebrate the best title I can ever have and a day to celebrate our love for anything lemon.

This recipe was my inspiration for the lemon cake. Although I adjusted the sweetness according to our liking and made a few tweaks. Also the original recipe is that of a cupcake and does not ask for a frosting. But the cupcake recipe by The Alchemist is a winner too if you wanna give it a try.

Ingredients:

For the Lemon Cake: Makes 2 (6 inches) cake. Recipe from The Alchemist's cupcake recipe, with slight changes.
1 cup butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup thick yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour (all purpose)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 baking soda
15-18 blackberries (about 3/4 cup)

For the Blackberry Whipped Cream Frosting:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup blackberries

Method:
For the Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F
Butter and dust two 6 inches cake pans and set aside.
Drop the cold butter into a large sauce pan. Over low heat melt the butter. Remove from heat as soon as the butter is melted. Mix lemon juice and water in a bowl. Pour it into the saucepan with melted butter. Mix. Throw in the sugar too. Stir. Whisk in the beaten eggs. Once everything is mixed set the saucepan aside.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda.
In a slow and constant speed pour the liquid mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients while whisking continuously. Prevent any lumps from forming.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
Drop the blackberries equally into both the pans. Spread them out evenly to keep them separate.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake. My oven acts funny sometimes and heats up faster than normal so please adjust the baking time according to your oven and keep an eye.
Once the cake is one pull them out. Let the pans cool for 10 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before putting the frosting on.

For the Blackberry Whipped Cream Frosting:

Using a fork mash all the blackberries. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer whip up the frosting on a medium high speed. Once the cream is whipped half way add sugar and continue whisking until it forms firm peaks.
Combine mashed blackberries into the whipped cream and carefully fold it in until just combined. Go easy while folding the whipped cream, heavy hand can pull the soft whip down.
Frost your cake and enjoy with your honey!

Chicken Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

My brother - he is mummy's favorite kid. She never admits to that and always gives me that, "what on earth are you talking about?" look every time I say this to her, but I know. He is the gentler of us two (at least on the outside!), doesn't leave back any trail of his crimes AND he ate his greens. Me, quite the contrary! But still the quieter him and crazy me, together managed to keep mummy on her toes all the time. She was either in the kitchen cooking for us, making rounds to our school explaining for us, pulling us apart while we try to kill each other or in her mandir (temple) praying for us. On her toes all the time!

But Sundays were different. Sunday was the day she looked forward to the whole week. Sunday was when we, the kids would behave. Sunday was when I ate my greens with no whining in the vicinity. Sunday was when Papa was home and he took over from Mummy, the kitchen, the chores and the kids.

So our Sunday morning would start with the sound of mummy reciting her prayers in the prayer room and to the smell of chai simmering away in the copper pot my grandma gave to her. Papa would come in our room, move the curtain for the sun to glare right at our faces, pull away our blankets, plant a big fat kiss on both of our cheeks and lift us in his strong muscular arms taking us straight to the bathroom. By the time we could snap out of our sleep, our teeth would already be brushed and we would be in our running shoes all set for our morning run. Well, Papa's morning run and our- "dragging the feet behind Papa" run! I remember him running towards the sun with the rays falling on his face and the two of us running behind him, hiding in his shadow to save our sleepy eyes from the shine. We would run past the nearby mandir, some local shops, wave hello to half the town and be back home for breakfast.

The hours after breakfast was what we looked forward to more. It was Sunday so it was a chicken curry day! We knew Papa would get us ready, load us on his scooter, one kid standing in front and other sitting on the back seat, wrapping our two arms around his waist tightly and we would go to the Sunday haat (farmer's market). Carrying our jholas (bags) we would stop at every vendor looking for the plumpest tomatoes, choosing the freshest greens and bargaining for the best deal on potatoes and onions. Last stop would be the butcher shop located at the end of the haat. While waiting for the butcher to get our chicken ready, we would enjoy our ice creams or savor a glass of sweet sugarcane juice. Then head home.

At home everything from the haat would be washed, twice. Then we would sneak out in the backyard and Papa would get in the kitchen to make his world famous chicken curry. It took him at least two hours to make that chicken curry. The process would start with onion, ginger, garlic paste prepared using a stone grinder. Whole spices ground along until everything turns into a smooth paste. Then his loyal pressure cooker would be pulled out, which by the way was used just on Sundays, just for the chicken curry. The process would begin and the aroma of masala floating in the backyard would get strong and stronger.

Two hours later we would lay newspaper on the floor, put or plates on it and lunch would be served. There would just be chicken curry, steaming hot rotis and a simple salad on the side. But that is still and will ever be the best meal one could ever serve to me. So today when I thought of sharing a couple of exciting news with you, I could not think of a better recipe and images to go with the post. Photos here might not be the best ones, but they carry boatloads of memories. Some happy moments we spent with my family during our last visit to India and another golden opportunity where we relished Papa's world famous Chicken Curry.

Now the happy news. Because of all the love and support you show to Indian Simmer, it has been nominated again for this year's Best Food Blog Awards hosted by SAVEUR Magazine. The nominations are now open for voting till Friday, April 19th. So if you think an Indian food blog deserves to win this year, then please vote for Indian Simmer in the Best Regional Cuisine Category. Every vote counts so please take two minutes and vote. Other than that, I am really excited to be featured on some amazingly popular websites like Refinery 29 and Edamam.com. Feeling so honored right now!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds whole chicken (cleaned and cut into 16- 18 pieces)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
2 inches ginger root
2-3 hot green chili peppers (adjust according to how much heat you can handle)
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup lemon juice + 1/2 teaspoon salt +1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper (marinade)
2-3 bay leaves (dried)
1 1/2 cinnamon stick
3-4 whole black cardamom
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
5-6 cloves
2 1/2 tablespoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 cup mustard oil (can substitute with vegetable or olive oil)
1 1/2 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
Salt to taste
Handful of chopped cilatro

Method:
Mix the marinade (lemon juice + salt + pepper) well to washed chicken. Set aside for 30 minutes.
In the meantime grind onion, ginger, garlic and green chili into a thick paste. Set aside.
Heat oil in a thick bottom pan with slightly higher sides. A pressure cooker or wok would be a great alternative. Roughly pound the whole spices - bay leaves, cinnamon stick, black cardamom, cumin and cloves. Add to the hot oil. Stir as they sputter.
Add turmeric. Stir and add the onion paste prepared before. Turn the heat to medium and cook while stirring occasionally until all the liquid has evaporated and the paste is reduced to a dense, golden brown paste.
Add salt, coriander powder and chopped tomato. Turn the heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally. Slowly the tomato will begin to melt and then it will all turn into a slightly smooth and loose paste. Wait till oil begins to separate.
Add garam masala, stir in the chicken and mix everything very well. Reduce the heat to medium low. Cover and cook, uncovering and stirring occasionally. Initially chicken will lose a lot of water but after cooking for 15-20 minutes on medium heat the water will begin reducing. At this point you can either uncover and cook, stirring occasionally or put on the pressure cooker.
If proceeding with the pressure cooker then cover, lock and wait for two whistles and then turn the heat off leaving covered for another 15 minutes.
I prefer the slow cooking so I turn the heat to medium low and let the chicken simmer for another 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked well and the gravy is reduced to a nice thick consistency.
Once the chicken is cooked add ghee and cilatro. Stir well. Cover and let it rest for 15 more minutes before serving with your choice of bread or rice.

Chai and A Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:57:00 +0000

Summer afternoons would be commonly spent with the uncles crowded around the television watching cricket matches and aunties busy in the kitchen gossiping and sending out pots and pots of chai and glucose biscuits. We kids would only get to eat the biscuits. On a lucky day, a kind aunty would fry us some samosas or pakoras. But chai? Nope! "Kids don't drink chai" mummy would reply with a gentle tap on the back of our head. That's the memory that chai brings for me or sometimes it takes me back to those monsoons.
The ones where we would be sitting under a tin shade in front of the tea stall outside our college building. Rain would be pouring and we would all be half drenched in water, shivering with cold. A glass of hot masala chai tucked tightly between our palms, breathing in the aroma of cardamom and ginger we would slowly be sipping away that chai warming ourselves from inside. Chemistry practicals, latest fashion, secret crushes and disastrous dates, everything would be discussed over "one cutting" (a term commonly referred to half a cup of chai in India). For Indians chai isn’t just a beverage; it’s also a way of cherishing the simple things in life, and an excuse to bring people together and celebrate the present.

Chai commonly served in Indian homes is not as milky as the ones you find at the coffee shops across North America, popularly known as "chai tea" or "chai latte". There's an interesting article Manisha Pandit wrote on chai and titled it as "Drop the Tea; its already there in your Chai". This post made me giggle and talks about a few misconceptions people have about their greatly loved Indian chai. Give it a read!
Masala chai is an essential part of life in India, where having a cup or two (or maybe three) of chai in the morning is akin to brushing your teeth every day. I still think there is still no "recipe" to a right chai masala, in order to make a masala chai. Chai masala, Masala chai?! Confused? Well, Chai masala is a blend of spices used to make a spiced tea which is called Masala chai in Hindi.
The spice preference in a masala chai recipe varies from family to family and from person to person, but some of the most common spices used in a masala chai are ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper and nutmeg. Either mix all these spices in equal quantity, adjust the amount according to your taste or just pick a few of your choice. I personally like mine with ginger only and sometimes with cardamom. Towards the end of this blog post I have shared a recipe to my favorite Ginger and Cardamom Chai.

But before that I have to tell you about a company called Gitadini. Its a small company started by a husband wife duo who design and sell original housewares, home decor and furnishings. As a food blogger you are approached by companies and brands on a daily basis with offers to try their product and talk about them. I am normally very hesitant at saying yes because I have a strict set of rules that I follow, one of which being not talking to my readers about things that I don't stand behind 100%. So a couple of months back when nice people at Gitadini approached me you might understand why I was reluctant. After being assured that there's no commitment I agreed to try their product. I tried, tested and have been using them for the past two months and I think now I am at a place where I can say that yes I am happy with all the products.

Along with home decor and furnishing, Gitadini also has a small but interesting line of kitchenware. I was impressed by their modern take on the traditional Indian kitchen quintessential and also at their usability. I made sure I used all the products enough before I talk about them. I can say by their usability that it shows it has been designed by someone who has been in and around Indian kitchen for a while. I personally loved the ones displayed here in this post.

Gitadini was kind enough to giveaway any featured product of their choice to one lucky reader of Indian Simmer. In the comments section below please tell me which product you would want to try. Choose from Rotito Rolling Board Set, Medium Saucepan or Yin Yang Storage Bin. This giveaway is open till April 1st 11:59 pm PST. On April 2nd I will randomly select a winner and announce on the blog.

Alright lets get to the recipe for Ginger Cardamom Chai, the kind that I make in my kitchen.

Ingredients: serves 4
3 cups water
3/4 cup milk (whole or 2%)
3 teaspoons loose darjeeling black tea (or can also use 3-4 black tea bags)
4-5 teaspoons sugar (the family prefers dark brown sugar and I like honey.)
3/4-1 tablespoon tablespoon fresh grated or crushed ginger
2 smashed cardamom pods

Method:
In a medium sized saucepan heat water on stove top.
Add sugar and tea. Let the water come to a boil. Then turn the heat to medium and add milk.
Let it cook for 3-5 minutes or until the white froth of milk on top settles down.
Add ginger and cardamom. Cover the saucepan with a tight lid, turn the heat off and let the flavors steep into the chai for 3-5 minutes
Using a strainer strain out the tea, ginger and cardamom out of your chai.
Transfer into tea cups and serve steaming hot with some glucose biscuits!

Entry to this giveaway has been closed.

Gosht Shorba- Guest Post for Spices And Aroma

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:27:00 +0000

I am not a phone person. I never was, not even in my teenage, when its supposed to be one of your daily rituals to glue your ears to the phone for at least a few hours a day. No, not even then! I can find a 100 reasons not to be able to pick up the phone and call someone. It has always been like that. I guess I believe more in eye to eye and face to face conversations than long chats over an electronic device while staring at the ceiling or wandering around?
Then I never remember special days of friends and family. I always call a week after birthdays of friends and act to have remembered a wrong date. I over commit and then try to work night and days to keep the commitments. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I do not. These are all bad habits, I know but that’s who I am. I have lost touch with friends due of this, but those who understood, stuck around.

I cannot say that I was ever the most popular kid in the class. Not in school, nor in college and not even after that but I have always been lucky to have friends. Many good ones who even after calling me for the nth time still call to check on me and also complain in the end that I don’t call. Ones who call me on their birthdays and remind me to wish them. Ones who know what my “problem” is, (I know that they do because they have told me several times) but still make sure I do not fall flat on my face because of that.

Vijitha or Vij as I call her has become one such friend. Someone I met with a couple other blogger friends at a coffee shop an year and a half back and thought what a chatterbox this girl is. And now she has become one of the reasons why I am thankful for starting a food blog. She isn’t used to me saying so many nice things about her, all at the same time so I will stop right here.

Now even before my book came out Vij had asked for a signed copy of the book so that we can give it away to one of the loyal readers of her blog. So after many reminders and then a few threatening emails and personal home visits I finally sat down today and worked this post up for her. The recipe I am sharing today is one of the traditional ways goat meat is cooked in North India. You can find this and many other slow cooker recipes on my cookbook “The Everything Indian Slow Cooker Cookbookt” which you also have a chance to win today.
So head over to Spices And Aroma for my guest post and recipe. Also do not forget to surf around her wonderful blog. If you are someone who has or knows someone with gestational diabetes or thinking of following South Beach Diet or simply trying to watch your waist and love Indian food then this trip to her blog might turn out to be a treat for you. Enjoy!

Pulled Lamb Sandwich With Caramelized Onions and Chipotle Garlic Aioli

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:51:00 +0000

She checked the clock twice in a minute to make sure it was still working. Checked her phone to see if there were any calls that she had missed. Rushed to the sound of a passing car and she peaked out the window hoping it was him. Then disappointed went back to the couch rubbing her sweaty palms against each other, sat down and began shaking the legs again.

He promised he will be home from work by 8 and it was almost midnight. No phone calls, no messages and no news of him being well. He never does that, then why today? Something must have gone terribly wrong. An accident or maybe that back of his? Worst things come to mind at times like this.

Then trying not to concentrate on her pacing heartbeat she picked up her favorite book. While turning to the page she had last left, she heard something. Maybe the sound of footsteps approaching, which were being faded by that pouring rain outside of her apartment. A ring of the doorbell and she shook with excitement. This might be the best sound she had ever heard. She ran to the door, opened it and there he was. Drenched in rain but a smile on face.

Before she could complain his hand holding flowers appeared from behind. "Why do you have to like red tulips?" he complained " I thought I'd pick some for you but then they always run out of them?" She couldn't hold the tears back anymore so let it all out but accompanied with a big laugh. "What's for dinner?" he asked. "Sandwiches", she said. "Alright, then lets have a picnic in our living room tonight!". He entered the house and just like that everything just brightened up.

Thanks to American Lamb for sending some really good all-natural lamb for me to try for this recipe! I will be sending this recipe to the Lamb Lover's Photo Contest.

Ingredients: Makes 4-5 Sandwiches

For Slow Cooker Pulled Lamb:
1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless leg of lamb
3/4 chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic (smashed)
1 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

For Caramelized Onion: (Slow Cooker version in "The Book")
4 cups thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

For the Chipotle Garlic Aioli: Makes 1 cup
I followed this recipe for garlic aioli on David Lebovitz's blog, tweaked just a little. Just omit the garlic from this recipe and add chipotle garlic paste instead.

2 tablespoons Chipotle and Roasted Garlic Paste
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1/2 cup (250ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pure olive oil
You'd be surprised to notice that I use two kinds of olive oils. I once read a chef mixing half of pure live oil to the quantity of extra virgin olive oil to cut on the strong taste of oil in the aioli. I tried and it works for me. If you'd rather use 1 cup extra virgin then go ahead. You will not be breaking any rules.

Remaining ingredients I used for the sandwich. You can always play around here!
Baguette bread (you can use your choice of hard crusted bread)
Some greens (arugula or baby spinach go well with this)
Sliced tomatoes
Sliced avacado

Method:
Preparing Lamb:-
In a mason jar add all the ingredients except for the lamb and chicken stock. Close the lid and shake vigorously for 5 seconds. (This is how I make my vinaigrette)
Pour the vinaigrette to a ziplock bag. Add the lamb. Seal the bag and squish it so that all the vinaigrette is coated well around the lamb. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
Take the lamb out of the Ziplock back. Heat a cast iron skillet. Transfer the lamb to the skillet and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes.
Pour chicken stock to the slow cooker. Transfer the lamb to the slow cooker discarding all excess fat.
Cover and cook on low for low for 6-7 hours.

For Caramelized Onion:
Use a wide thick bottom saute pan (I use a cast iron skillet). Heat oil/butter
Add sliced onion. Stir well to coat the onion with oil/butter. Turn the heat to medium and let it cook on its own, stirring occasionally.
As the onion turns brown and looses its water it will stick to the bottom. Let it stick a little but keep an eye so that you do not burn them and keep stirring occasionally.
Towards the end the onions might all come together and begin to stick more to the bottom. Try adding a couple tablespoons of water to deglaze the pan. Turn the heat off and let it sit in the hot pan for 10 minutes before you move it to dish.

For the Aioli:
I followed the recipe as on David's blog. Its explained well there and always works for me. Just substitute garlic with Chipotle and Roasted Garlic Paste.

Putting the sandwich together:
Take the leg of lamb out of the slow cooker. Using two forks shred the meat. I always reduce the remaining liquid in the slow cooker and pour it over my meat. So I did the same here.
On a bed of greens over sliced baguette put some pulled leg of lamb, add caramelized onion, tomato and avacado. Smother some aioli on the other half of the baguette. Place it on top and enjoy with a glass of cold beer and your honey!

Chipotle And Roasted Garlic Paste

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:42:00 +0000

I like putting the butterfly to bed. The whole house is nice and quiet. Sitting in a dark room next to her, holding her soft chubby hand and running fingers through her hair. Listening to the tick tock of the clock, then being disturbed by the whooshing sound of a strange car passing by the house every once in a while. Its nice AND quiet! If you live in a house with a very curious butterfly whose only job during day is to fly around the house in circles until the whole house comes down with her, you know how golden that "nice and quiet" is!

I barely get a second in my day where I can just sit, close my eyes and think. That nice and quiet is my opportunity when I do nothing but think and get transported to some other place for a while. Yesterday it was a trip to Mexico that we went on an year back. To the stuffy, noisy but colorful streets of Old Puerto Vallarta.

It was our third day in the city when we finally decided we've had enough sun bathing for our Indian skin so we pulled ourselves out of the beach, strapped the kid to her car seat in our tiny rental and headed to the old town. The hotel employees warned us that the we might find a little too much culture that a tourist can take but we were relentless. Later we were glad that we were. Because I am quite sure that we could never have got a better tasting pork tacos, creamier avocados and more refreshing Piña Coladas than anywhere else.

Cars hustling on the streets along with pedestrians, tiny shops lined in a row selling everything from pillows to bird cages, old historic church with tall clock tower whose bell would go off every hour to tell us how fast the time is passing. So much color and so much life everywhere.

And then I saw something which made me jump. I might have shrieked, I am not sure and my family is still too embarrassed to admit. I saw a spice shop! Not your spices-boxed-in-fancy-little-colored-jars kind of a spice shop but the I-can-smell-the-place-from-a-mile kind of spice shop. It was tiny but overflowing with a zillion kinds of spices, half of which I had no idea what they were. I went nuts and bought a little of this, a little of that and couldn't stop until the "better half" gave a stare. I managed to buy some dried chipotle pepper as well. The smokey-and-sweet-yet-carrying-a-punch kind.

So holding her chubby hands with my eyes closed and brushing her hair with my fingers yesterday, I was thinking of those chipotle peppers. Thinking of ways how I could use them this time. I thought of that chili garlic paste that mummy would always keep in her kitchen just to add an extra punch to any sad dish. I thought why not do it with chipotle pepper and mix them with garlic to make a smokey chipotle garlic paste. Now I do not know about you but there's something about roasted garlic that I love. It must be the aroma or the depth it adds to any dish but there is something.

So next morning soon after waking up I got busy with the peppers. Cut them, cleaned them, toasted them, rehydrated them and then pulled out my mortar and pestle. Threw in some roasted garlic with those peppers. Then with a little love and lot more muscle a beauty came out. You can use this paste to spice up any bland dish from a creamy pasta sauce to a simple vegetable stir fry. It also adds so much flavor to meat.Add a little bit of salt to your taste and this can act as a good spread for any bread.
I referred this amazing tutorial by Gourmet food editor Chef Ian to educate myself more about peppers and how to use them.

Ingredients:
16-18 dried chipotle pepper
1 garlic head (bulb)
1/3 cup olive oil +1 teaspoon
4-5 cups water (to rehydrate the peppers)

Method:
Using this video as a reference, I cleaned and prepped my Chipotle peppers. Check it out, you might learn something new about peppers. I know I did.
In order to roast garlic, preheat the oven to 400 deg. F.
To prep the garlic you can either chop about a 1/4" of its top just enough to expose the garlic or cut it into two across its circumference like I did. I do not think it makes any difference.
Place the exposed side up on a piece of aluminum foil. Pour 1 teaspoon olive oil over it. Bring the two exposed sides back to their place. Tightly wrap the foil making a ball. Place it in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the garlic is soft.
Take it out of the oven. Let it cool for 10 minutes and then either pinch the cloves out of the skin or take it out using a fork.
Now to make a paste you can either use a mortar and pestle or to make things easier you can use your food processor.
Place the garlic and peppers together and grind them into a paste.
Olive oil here is used only for preserving purpose so you can add it after grinding or if using a food processor add it while grinding to help the blades move smoothly.
Place in an air tight container and store in your refrigerator.

Do not forget to check out the giveaway running on the blog. You still have a few days to enter.

How To Make Ghee In A Slow Cooker From "The Book" and A Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:34:00 +0000

Is it still allowed to wish someone a Happy New Year because "technically" the year is not exactly new anymore. But since we are still holding on to the first month of the year by its tail let me just go ahead and send you all my warm and loving new year wishes. Hope you had a fabulous 2012, kissed it a farewell with smile and wish you have a much much better 2013!

I can call my 2012 "eventful"! I know it wasn't as eventful on the blog as you and I would have wanted it to be but it definitely was behind the scenes. There were some very interesting writing and photography gigs that I was offered which kept me busy, The Book being one of them. Then there were some hospital and emergency room visits that were not as pleasing as those gigs but they sure kept me busy as well. You did not get to hear about them on the blog because I just did not feel very comfortable talking about it. But then as they say, "all's well if it ends well!". So it all ended well and the doctors have given a green signal now. Waiting for that green signal was boring though so we thought we'd celebrate ourselves in the meantime and took off for some quiet and hassle free time with family in India. Spent a refreshing few weeks there and now we are back home. Back to the routine, back to work and back to the blog and you!

I spent a huge part of the past year writing my first cookbook- The Everything Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook. Developed many new recipes, modified some shared by friends (whom I cannot thank enough!) and tested countless number of them, several of which failed and which didn't made it to the book. You can find 300 of my favorite Indian slow cooker recipes in the book. Probably the part of the book that I like most is the chapter named "Indian Slow Cooker Foundation Recipes". In this chapter I have shared some very basic recipes like how to make rice in a slow cooker, how to make yogurt and curry paste in your slow cooker. And one of my favorites is making ghee using a slow cooker. This recipe will make your life so much easier that you will never go back to your store bought ghee again.

All you need is some good quality, organic butter and you are good to go!

The slow cooker in this picture is a little big but if you have a 3 quart one then that would be perfect. Place 8 sticks of butter in the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker on low and cover with a lid propping it open just enough for the steam to escape. I use a chopstick or my mini spatula for that. Cook for 8-10 hours.

In the end you will get 2 cups of clear golden ghee. Scum will be floating on the top; spoon it off and discard it. Burnt milk solids will stick to the walls of the slow cooker. Do not scrape the sides or bottom! Let the ghee come to room temperature and then filter it using a strainer or cloth.

Store in airtight bottles and use it for cooking curries, making stir fries or just add a dollop on fresh warm bread or rice.

I would love to giveaway a few copies of The Everything Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook for you to take a closer look. So please drop a line in the comments section below if you'd like to participate in the giveaway (or even if you do not!). On Feb 10th I will randomly choose three lucky winners who will receive a copy of my cookbook.
Looking forward to seeing what you think about it!

We have winners! And their names are....
Ramona
Dena Testa Bray
Megan@What'sMeganMaking
Congratulations people! Please drop me an email with your addresses so that I can send your copy of Everything Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Entry to this giveaway is closed.

Cocoa Covered Pistachio Date Truffles

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:27:00 +0000

The whole mood around festive season stays the same, doesn't matter if its Thanksgiving in the US or Diwali in India. Irrespective of the country, people, language or culture if its the holidays season there will be a struggle against insanity! I have spent enough Diwalis and Holis in India amongst boatload of relatives and friends to know that! Long lists of menus being created, destroyed and then created again, a month in advance. Some new recipes being developed and some of grandma's tested ones thrown in the mix. The whole talks about who is cooking what and who cooks it best.

I wouldn't call my mother any less of a risk taker when it would comes to her in the kitchen but still holiday season was no time for playing around. She had her favorite and "tested" list of dishes and she would stick to them . Dahi vada (fried lentil dumplings served with spiced yogurt), boondi laddoos (a sweet dish made with chickpea clusters), gulab jamuns and chola masala served with hot puffed poori and a few stir fried vegetables is what the menu would mostly look like every year.
She had the patience of getting up very early in the morning to start cooking the dinner. Nothing could be made a couple days in advance because its just impolite to feed your guests baasi (a day old) food. So the day would start very early even before the sun comes with a shower and prayer, then cleaning up of the kitchen followed by a cooking marathon which would only end when the guests would start trickling in the evening. I never understood why this hardship was required but she had her set of rules and she grew up following them.

I, on the other hand have a different set of rules and one of the perks of living in a foreign land is that mummy wouldn't know that! I believe in band-aids, microwaves and quick fixes. So when planning a big meal like Diwali or Thanksgiving I concentrate on one or two big dishes which ask for most of my attention. That's what people are going to dig into anyway, rest are all side kicks. But don't neglect the side kicks either, just try to keep them easy, quick and if possible make in advance.
Now one of my favorite side kick right now which practically changed my life is this recipe for date truffles. I quickly softened my dates in a little bit of butter before grinding them and the extra caramelized flavor that added to it is amazing. This ones easy enough that I made it with my 3 year old, doesn't ask for many ingredients, its delicious and is healthy too- Jackpot!

Ingredients:
1 lbs pitted dates (coarsely chopped)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoon sweetened cocoa powder

Method: Makes approx. 16
Melt butter in pan. Add dates. On medium heat cook the dates until they loosen up and begin to look pulpy.
Transfer the dates into a dish or to a food processor.
Now in the same hot pan quickly toast the pistachios for a couple minutes until they give out some aroma. Turn the heat off. Let the pistachios cool.
Transfer both pistachio and dates into a food processor and grind it into a paste. After a point it might get a little difficult for the blades to move. Just move the mixture around with a spatula or spoon to aid smooth grinding but do not add any water. The paste does not necessarily need to be very smooth but enough to not have lumps in it.
Wait the mixture is cool enough to touch. Then oil your hands a little and roll them into small balls.
Take sweetened cocoa in a plastic ziplock back. Drop all the truffles in it. Seal the ziplock back and shake it vigorously for 15 seconds.
Take the Cocoa Covered Pistachio Date Truffles out and enjoy after a nice and hearty Thanksgiving meal!

Indian Simmer Loves- Veggie Belly

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:54:00 +0000

It has been a long time since one of my favorite sites was featured here on Indian Simmer. Things have been really crazy here in the background with me, both work wise and health wise. But when I thought of coming back with the "Indian Simmer Loves" series I figured what better way to do it than come back with a blog and blogger who has been on the top of my favorite list ever since I started as a food blogger! Sala Kanan was the very first food blogger who when saw my food blog for the first time sent me an email telling how much she loved it. It was a short email with just a few lines of praise and an invitation to come visit her whenever I am in her hometown. And that few liner not only made my day but weeks because it was a huge thing for a new amateur blogger like me to get praises from Sala Kanan of VEGGIE BELLY! Its been over two years now and we have grown to be good friends and still can say that Sala is the same. Gracious, always ready to lend a helping hand and kind enough to share her knowledge with everyone. Now if you are a foodie and like to surf through food blogs then chances are you already know Sala and her gorgeous blog Veggie Belly. With her simple yet innovative recipes, impeccable photography and her intriguing stories of travel around the world, its no wonder that Veggie Belly is one of the most popular Indian food blogs. I am super excited that Sala agreed to guest post on my blog and happy to announce that Indian Simmer Loves- Veggie Belly.

Tell us about yourself and what you would say is your food philosophy?
I grew up in South India. I've lived in the UK and now the US - Baltimore, MD, Washington DC, and now Portland OR. The travel bug has bitten me hard, and I've traveled to over 40 countries in 6 continents. Apart from travel, I really enjoy cooking and photography. Veggie Belly is the result of all of these interests coming together.
My cooking is pretty eclectic, and always meat free. I love the spices and flavors of India and the far east, and I think that reflects in my cooking.

What led you to starting a food blog?
People always ask me for recipes or guidelines for how to cook something. I was always sharing my recipes with people - either emailing them or scribling them on pieces of paper. So I decided to share my recipes with the world through my blog.

What would you say "Veggie Belly" is all about and please share a recipe that best describes your blog?
Through Veggie Belly I share my vegetarian recipes, and hope to inspire people to step in the kitchen and make vegetarian food for their families. My blog has hundreds of vegetarian recipes that are inspired by my travels and by my upbringing in India.

When butter and potatoes come together, you just cant go wrong. Add some homemade curry powder to the party, and you have a super tasty, easy side dish! The best part is, this recipe is so easy to make – you just toss everything together and it pretty much takes care of itself in the oven.

I love curry leaves and use them in everything (even pasta!). They have a beautiful earthy flavor that is just perfect for this masala potato dish. Just throw a sprig of curry leaves on top of the potatoes and they will get fragrant and crisp in the oven.

My home made curry powder is easy to make – all you do is toast up dry red chiles, coriander, cumin and fennel seeds, then grind them in a spice grinder. This powder will keep for weeks in an airtight container, and can be used in curries, roast vegetables, salad dressing etc. So make sure you make extra!

I like using baby potatoes for this recipe and I used a mix of white, purple and red. But you can just as easily use regular sized potatoes, just make sure you cut them up into even, bite sized pieces. And make sure you don’t crown the potatoes in the sheet pan – they need to be in a single layer so they can brown properly.

Butter Roasted Masala Potatoes

Ingredients- Serves 3-4 as a side dish
1 ½ pounds baby potatoes (white, red, purple, or mixed)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon Sea salt
1 Curry leaf sprig
1 teaspoon homemade curry powder (link: http://www.veggiebelly.com/2012/10/homemade-curry-powder-recipe.html)

Method
Pre heat oven to 400f
Scrub the potatoes clean and pat them dry on a towel. Cut the larger potatoes in half, so that everything is the same size.
Melt butter in a small saucepan, and let it simmer till it is golden.
Place the potatoes, melted butter, olive oil and salt in a bowl and toss well.
Arrange potatoes in a single layer in a sheet pan, that is lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 30 minutes. Then flip the potatoes over. Put the curry leaf sprig on top of the potatoes. Return to the oven.
Bake for another 20-30 minutes or till the potatoes are golden on the outside.
When the potatoes are done, remove from oven and immediately sprinkle the curry powder evenly on top. Mix well. Then fish out, and discard the curry leaf stem, keeping the leaves. Serve hot.

Quick Stir Fried Peas And Carrots- In Her Lunchbox

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:02:00 +0000

I have literally been running between birthday parties, doctor's appointments and lunch dates that I almost forgot to share my this week's lunchbox plan with you. And now its Halloween today! So before I run to the potluck party at the butterfly's school let me share a quick recipe and my plan for the week. Sorry I am not sharing any spooky Halloween recipe with you instead sharing a simple recipe for stir fried peas and carrots.

Like the last one this recipe again is my rescue lunchbox recipe. Remember those morning when you open your eyes in horror realizing you forgot to set up the alarm the night before, the clock says its 7:00 am and the kids need to be out of the door in 45 minutes? Yes, this recipe is for those days just to make your morning a tad bit easier. For such days I always keep packets of frozen peas, carrots, sweet corn, beans or a medley of all or couple of them in my freezer. Just heat up the oil, temper a couple spices, throw in the veggies, cook for a few minutes and done! Pack the lunch with some bread, boiled eggs, maybe a fruit and you are set.

In case you do not have the convenience of just grabbing a couple packets of frozen veggies then you can always prep up the veggies at your leisure. Steam them or blanch them, cool down and then store in the freezer for the busier days. Keeping this post very quick and coming straight to the recipe. Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen peas and carrots medley (thawed) - I just drop frozen veggies in room temperature water and it thaws in a minute.
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (can use mustard, fennel)
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon grated dried coconut (optional)

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. As they sputter add peas and carrots. Give a quick stir. Add salt. Stir again.
Cook until the veggies are heated well. For about a couple minutes.
Throw in the coconut. Give a quick stir and done!

Here's what I am sending "In Her Lunchbox" this week:
Crustless Mini Quiche- I am just in live with the make ahead quiches now! They serve as a great wholesome meal, they taste delicious and I can make them with the little one when both of us have time that in turn makes her more interested to try the dish.
Indian Stir Fried Noodles- She calls it "Breakfast Pasta". She likes it plain with no veggies added to it so I have to usually add a side of veggies but you can always stir fry the veggies with the vermicilli.
Juicy Chicken Meatballs by Rasa Malaysia or another version here at Ginger Garlic Meatballs by Simple Reem- Both the recipes are not very different from each other. Both are juicy and delicious, just the butterfly is a little partial to the ones with green peas. With Reem's suggestion I prepare and freeze the meatballs for 2-3 days and bake the morning I want to pack it for lunch.
Quinoa Pilaf by Pure Vegetarian- Another great idea for a wholesome meal.

Fava Beans and Pumpkin Seed Pesto- In Her Lunchbox

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:10:00 +0000

I've had a fun , adventurous and blessed childhood. I grew up in a small town. The kind where almost everyone knows each other, if not by name then at least by face. One of the most important part of my childhood memories is the time at school. I went to a Christian missionary school. It was a great school, some would say the best in town. Sisters were strict and made sure we paid attention to our academics. Sir Michael would drag us to the field for our PT exercises every afternoon, miss Rashmi would let our imagination go wild in the craft class and Father Joseph, our Principal would monitor everything from a distance. There were rules, a number of them and the students as well as the teachers knew they had to follow them.

I can say that those were good times and the best part was the time I had with my friends at school was over lunch. Though lunch time in our school was a little different. It might be a part of the "small town charm" but in our school the parents were allowed to bring or send in fresh food for their kids during lunchtime. So for several years mummy would cook, pack two lunch boxes, one for me and one for my brother and Ganga (our house help) would come riding his bicycle to our school everyday sharp at 12 pm. The lunchtime bell would ring and as we peek out the window, sure enough Ganga would be standing there with two stainless steel lunch boxes. And we would go sit under a huge shady Gulmohar tree with our friends, talk whatever the heck kids that age talk about and eat steaming hot rice with lentil soup one day or flaky parathas and stir fried vegetables with some tangy lemon pickles the other. Though I never realized this until today but it was such a blessing to have hot home cooked food everyday, AT school. I just loved my small town. There was no rush to get anywhere, no adulteration of any sorts and no deadlines to catch up on. Just pure, organic, closer to the roots joy!

Unfortunately I am not that lucky anymore. Now I need to be at several places at the same time and I just cannot meet the deadlines if I do not follow a schedule. Now I need to be up at 5 in the morning and pack lunch for my daughter just to make sure she doesn't have to eat reheated frozen pizza at school. Doing that day after day, everyday takes a lot of planning and creativity in the kitchen. And still many times I run out of ideas on what to put in her lunch box and I am told by my friends that they too get clueless many times.

So after being pushed by them for almost an year I finally gave in and hence starting this new series on Indian Simmer. Nothing fancy, just an attempt at sharing what I send "In Her Lunchbox" every morning. I do not promise the food will be "traditional" or "Indian" all the time but I do promise it will be healthy and something that my kid loves and will be hoping that yours loves it too. I'll try to share a few tricks here and there about how I work in advance so that I am not rushing in the morning to pack lunch. How sometimes I am amazed how the same food becomes "edible" by the kids just by adding some fun element and how healthy doesn't always means packing a bowl of salad. But just for the record, I in no way am trying to say that I am an authority in kids nutrition. All I will try to do is tell you what I plan to pack "In Her Lunchbox".

One of the things that always helps me in making sure I am able to survive through all the chaos in the morning and still get the lunch box ready and have them out of the house in time is some advance prep work. Do as much as you can in advance or a night before so that all you need to do in the morning is to put things together. Kids (at least the ones I know) love pasta so I always make several varieties of pesto whenever I have time in hand. Store it in the refrigerator and pull it out whenever you are in a hurry and can't be very creative, mix it with pasta, spread it on bread or add as a dip for veggies. My daughter loves Fava beans and Fava Bean Pesto is always available in my kitchen. I added some pumpkin seeds in this recipe just in the spirit of fall and Halloween. Also if Fava is too bitter for your taste add extra lemon juice, that helps cut the bitterness and brings in a fun tang to the dish. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup fava beans (blanched and skinned)
1/4 cup green pumpkin seeds
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste

Method:
Put all the ingredients (except oil) in a blender or food processor and turn it on.
While the blade's still moving slowly pour the oil into the food processor through the opening on the lid.
In the end you should get a smooth (or a little granular, depending on your taste) pesto. Spread it on the toast or mix it with pasta.

What I plan to send "In Her Lunchbox" this week:
Healthy Millet Patty by Spices And Aroma - Try using whole wheat or even whole gram flour for this recipe. Works well. I prepare the rolled dough a night before so that in the morning all I need to do is pan fry them.
Spicy Corn Fritters by Sunshine And Smile- Again I prep it a night in advance which saves me time in the morning. Omit strong spices if the kid can't handle it. Sweet corn is always a selling point for my 3 year old.
Quick And Easy Bento by La Fujimama - I loved the idea of adding beans with rice. I also tried adding a zing of lemon juice in the mixture and it was a hit.
Vegetable Poha- This again is a very forgiving recipe. Use whatever vegetable you have in the refrigerator or you can even try adding grilled chicken or eggs.

Khasta Kachori And October Unprocessed 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 05:41:00 +0000

Winters in Charlotte were not exactly bliss, not to me at least. It wasn't cold enough to be covered with snow so that one could sneak out every now and then with a snow sledge. Neither was it cozy enough for you to be able to walk down the streets without freezing yourself into a popsicle. It was our first few months in the city, far from all our friends and of course the family. Only two things that kept us company were empty frozen roads and my cooking marathons. That's exactly when nature decided to give us the happiest news any couple would ever hope for! The moment we heard we just looked at each other and cried. Him with joy and me, I am still not sure but I think it was a combination of fear and anxiety.

Fear of the unexpected and the anxiety to see it coming. Joy came in, but later, much later! After the alcohol aversions and me gaining a dog's ability to smell. Ability to smell everything bad and even the smell of good felt bad. Then came mood swings and lethargy. Weeks and months passed of me being miserable and I realized this was the worst decision I had ever made. Cursed the ones who had made it before me, pitied the ones who were going to make it after me and potty mouthed the ones who talked me into it.
Then on a clear spring afternoon while Oprah was on TV and me on the phone talking to, god only remembers who, it happened. It was either a series of bubbles bursting in my belly or maybe she kicked. My feet went numb and words got stuck in the throat. Waited for a few minutes and then she kicked again. Right at that moment, with her miniature feet she kicked out all the fear, every bit of anxiety and told me its gonna be ok and SO worth it!

She only came in my arms a few months after that day but gave birth to a new me right at that moment. That's when joy came in. It came later but was SO worth it! It has been more than three years since then and those miniature feet inside my belly have grown bigger, stronger, naughtier and has a personality of its own. And the scary part, that personality is a lot like mine and has turned me into a lot like my mother. I never would have imagined I would admit this but its true.
I have no idea why I am telling you this today out of the blue but these memories just stormed in today while I was making these Khasta Kachori and fingers just started typing these words. During my pregnancy food craving and happy eating days spicy Khasta Kachoris with hot cilantro chutney, a drizzle of tangy tamarind chutney, a dollop of yogurt and sprinkle of chopped raw onion were always in my mind. And trust me finding it in Charlotte where there was just one dingy Indian restaurant in a 10 mile radius, was not a cake walk but the husband proved to be very resourceful back in those days. So along with those most treasured memories also sharing a recipe for a Khasta Kachori.

I also wanted to tell you about this challenge that Andrew Wilder started in 2009 and which is gaing more and more fame every year. He named it October Unprocessed. As you might get the idea by the name, its a challenge where if you take part you pledge to go (or try to go) for the month of October without involving or atleast reducing the amount of processed food in your diet. I was determined to participate in the challenge last year but then I caved. This year I convinced myself that its not gonna be as tough as it seems and any attempt in the direction is a good attempt. So if you are eager to participate or learn more head over to Eating Rules and check out the details. More than 4700 people have taken the challenge this year and I am excited to be one of them.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
2 1/2 cups Durum wheat flour (or mix whole wheat and all purpose flour in 1:1 ratio)
1/3 cup oil/or melted ghee
1 tablespoon salt
Water as needed
Oil for deep frying

For the filling:
2 cups boiled potatoes (roughly mashed)
1 cup frozen medley of green peas and carrots (thawed) You can also use fresh if you want. It will just ask for longer cooking time.
3/4 cup onions (chopped)
1 1/2 cups green chili pepper (minced)
1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 1/2 teaspoon dried mango powder
1 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil
Salt to taste
I used one of the most common and traditionaly used filling here but you can use just about anything. Minced meat, any vegetable, cooked lentils or beans(with minimal water used to cook it) or even fruits of your choice.
Method:

For the dough:
Mix salt into the flour. Add oil into the flour and mix it all very well together. To mix the oil well into the flour, take flour in small portions in your hand and rub it between your palms. To make sure that the oil is mixed well, hold the flour in your fist, press tightly and open the fist, the flour should still hold itself. The process of adding oil/ghee into the flour helps making the pastry flaky.
Now add water into the flour, salt and oil mixture mixing it with hands carefully putting it all together into a dough. Trick to kneading perfect dough – always add water in small portions. Dough for pastry should be a little tougher. As a test, when you press your finger into it, you must have to apply a little pressure and it should not stick to your hand when you pull your finger out.
Work the dough for about 5 minutes and bring it together into a smooth ball. Wrap with a plastic wrap or damp cheese cloth. Set aside for 30 minutes.

For the filling:
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. As they sputter add onion.
Saute for a couple minutes and then add all the dry spices, turmeric, coriander powder, mango powder along with minced chilli.
Stir it all together quickly and then add peas and carrots. Mix everything together. If using fresh peas and carrots then turn the heat to medium, sprinkle some water and cover and cook until the carrots are tender.
Add potatoes. Add salt to taste. Mix everything together scraping the sides and the bottom. Mix corinder powder into the mixture. Let it cool down.

Making of Khasta Kachori:
Divide the dough into balls about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough in each ball.
Set some oil aside to oil your hands before rolling the balls. Now roll the balls into 3-4 inch circles. You can either use the tips of your fingers and start by pinching and flattening around the edges leaving the center thicker than the edges or you can just use a lightly oiled rolling pin.
Fill the center of the flattened dough with the filling. Lift up all the edges and join them all together at one place. Press it down and flatten it between your palms making sure you do not leave any air pockets or cavity.
Follw the same steps for all the dough balls. Cover the ones ready to be fried with a damp cheese cloth so that it does not dry out before you finish filling and start frying.
When all the kachoris are filled. Deep dry them.
There are three important things to be kept in mind when making a flaky Khasta Kachori or samosa for that matter.
There should be just the right amount of oil mixed to the flour
Dough should not be loose or sticky &
The oil should neither be very cold or very hot.
I gave you the tips on the top two factors above. Now the last factor which probably is most important is how to check if the oil is hot enough and still not cold. To do that I start my heating the oil on medium heat then to check the right temperature I take a small ball of dough, almost the size of a small pea and drop it in the oil. If the dough first sinks to the bottom and then after a 3-5 seconds sizzles its way to the top then the oil is ready. If its just sinks to the bottom and doesn't come up, its too cold heat up a little longer. If it sizzle right away then it is too hot, turn the heat down and let it cool down a little.
You can either hot kachoris with tomato ketchup, some chutney or traditionally as we do in India by breaking it into two parts and drizzling some tangy tamarind chutney, hot cilantro chutney, a dollop of spiced yogurt and some fresh salad of pickled onions or radish. Enjoy with some hot spiced tea!

Apple Halva

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:40:00 +0000

For two years I have tried to be a part of Summer Fest an event organized by Food Network. Its a season long garden party where Food Network and HGTv joins hands with bloggers and gardeners and we all share our favorite garden-to-table recipes and tips. A new produce is featured every week and it goes on through out summer.

This year as you might have noticed I have been away a lot because of which I missed on a lot of fun things going on in the virtual world, Summer Fest being one of them. And even though summer is almost over I still wanted to take part in the event which too is soon to be over with summer. So as I said with this event we explore one seasonal produce every week which for this week is Apple.

I am lucky to have an apple tree in my backyard and just like my house was flooded with greengages sometime back its soon going to be flooded with apples. I say that with confidence looking at those lean yet strong branches testing their flexibility with the amount of fruit weighing them down. The fruits which are still not fully ripe and still very green but you can see their cheeks slowly turning red as if the change in weather is making them blush. But a three year old doesn't get it when we say that the apples are not ready yet. It doesn't stop her from standing under the tree, raising both hands up in the air and jumping in hopes that she might catch a grip of them. Many times she doesn't but sometimes she does and when she does she would come to us with a couple in her pocket and one in her hand, half eaten and would say, "look maa, they aaal clunchy and yummy. I think they aaal leady!". So I guess the apples are ready and looks like we are ready to step into fall!

Apples that I got (or should I say the little one got for me!) although were not fully ripe but still very sweet and so I thought of making halva with them. Halva is a popular Indian sweet dish, very similar to a pudding made with either a type of flour, ground nut, vegetable or fruit as base. The recipe that I am sharing today is very similar to Gajar Halva recipe already on the blog. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 cups peeled, grated green apples (Can use any variety of apple. I had easy access to green)
1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter) + 1 1/2 teaspoon
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
2 tablespoon cashews (break into smaller pieces)
2 tablespoon golden raisins
Water as needed

Method:
In a thick bottom saucepan or wok add 1 teaspoon ghee. Turn the heat on. As ghee begins to melt add grated apples. Stir well.
Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes. If the apples are too sweet it will begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add upto 1/2 cup of water (depending on how ripe the apples are), replace the lid and cook until the apple is soft and form a loose ball. Approximately 10-15 minutes.
Add sweetened condensed milk. Stir everything well together, scraping the sides of the pan if something's sticking on it.
Cook for another 8-10 minutes on medium low heat until all the liquid is evaporated and the halwa turns into a golden brown, shiny, loose mass.
In the meantime heat the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoon of ghee and fry the cashews and raisins until the cashews are lightly golden and raisins are puffed.
Add fried cashews, raisins and crushed cardamom seeds to the halwa. Mix everything well together and serve either hot or cooled down, as per taste.

Here's what my friends did with apple this week:
Jeanette's Healthy Living: Gluten-Free Jewish Apple Cake
Virtually Homemade: Apple Pie Muffin
Chez Us: Baked Apples With Creme Anglaise
Daily*Dishin: Easier-than-Pie Creamy Apple Bake
Made by Michelle: Pear Apple Crisp
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Apple, Fennel and Cheddar Cheese Panini
From My Corner of Saratoga: Spiced Apple Dutch Baby
Thursday Night Dinner: Apple Bread Pudding
Devour: 7 Apple Desserts Beyond Pie
Healthy Eats: Marrying the Apple With New Flavors
FN Dish: Let's Go Apple Picking

Tomato With Pickeling Spices (Tamatar ka Achar)

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:17:00 +0000

Please don't kill me today because I have yet another preserve recipe here for you. But I can't help it. First it was cherries, then apricots and greengages and now tomatoes - summer has been a little hard on me! Not that I am complaining to be on the receiving end of such abundant organic produce at my arm's reach but how much can a girl take? I have made tamatar aloo, tomato tadka dal and tomato green chutney enough times to be able to scare my family away from the dinner table by just the sound of it. So preserving pounds after pounds of tomatoes was the only option I had! Now that's what summer is all about right- abundant fresh produce and a lot of preserving? I am sad that its time to hug the season bye but I wanted it to end on this note because that's what I have happy memories of and assume its a tradition.

Summers would come and my grandma would be after my Papa's life to go to the haat (local farmer’s market) to get raw mangoes and whole spices so that she can start prepping them up for the whole year. She was in her eighties and could still sit for hours drying whole chilies in the sun to later grind them with her own hands with a mortar and pestle to make garam masala. Jars for aam ka achar (pickled raw mangoes) would come out of the shelves, cleaned, dried and filled with the mango wedges coated with loads of oil and just the right amount of spices. Of course everyone had to still follow the customary rules of not touching or opening the jars for some time or with bare hands – something as trivial as that might spoil the whole batch. Just like any teenage girl, I would try to watch my figure and maa would throw in dollops of ghee (clarified butter) in my daal with a big wedge of pickled mango or lemon canned from last summer. I would frown and she would say, “eat it, this will make you strong!” Well, I had to and no wonder I do the same to my daughter now. Somehow a bowl full of steaming hot dal chawal (steamed rice with yellow lentil soup) with achar (pickle) is all you need to be transported back to that time!

Tomato Achar is not necessarily a common variety of pickle used in India but mummy has been making it for as long as I can remember and was one of my favorites after her world famous pickled red chili peppers. I have spoken about panch foran here and that is what we are using to pickle the tomatoes here. Also its very simple to make but the amount of salt and oil is very crucial for this recipe. The amount of water in tomato is a good "ingredient" for disaster and if there isn't enough oil in the pickle then it can go bad pretty fast. So its important that the oil is enough to cover the whole of pickle in the jar. It might seem a lot but trust me, its not.

Ingredients:
4 pounds sliced tomato (I used Early Girl tomatoes but you can use any variety)
1/2 cup or 2 bulbs garlic
1/3 cup thai/cayenne green chili
3 tablespoon Panch Foran spices
1/4 teaspoon asafetida
1/3 curry leaves (coarsely chopped)
1 cup olive/mustard oil
1/2 cup salt

Method:
Using a mortar and pestle, crush garlic and green chili together. If you do not have a mortar pestle handy, you can always use a food processor to coarsely grind it. I like it coarsely ground because I like it when I get little chunks of garlic or chili in my pickle. If you are not a fan then blend it into a paste.
Heat oil in a large thick bottom pan. Add asafetida and panch foran spices. As soon as they sputter, add curry leaves. They will splatter wildly for a few seconds so make sure you are at a safe distance from the pan.
Once the splattering is calmed down add garlic and chili paste. Fry for about a minute until they turn lightly golden in color.
Add tomatoes and salt. Mix everything together and bring it to a boil. As the tomatoes start to boil, reduce the heat to medium low and let it simmer until all the liquid is cooked off, for about 1- 1.5 hours.
Towards the end when all the liquid is evaporated, tomato with reduce to a thicker chutney like consistency and oil will separate. Cook for another 7-10 minutes making sure there's no water left.
Once cooked through, let the pickle cool down before transferring into a can. Store it in a cool dry place in air tight containers. In a refrigerator this pickle can last for at least a couple months.
Serve as a spread with your choice of bread, as a dip with veggies or the traditional way with a bowl full of steaming hot dal chawal!

Greengage Jelly and Greengage Jam

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Answers would be in the head but I couldn't write them faster on the paper to be able to get out of that hot and stuffy examination hall. Sweat would trickle down my back, breathing would get heavy and the desperation to finish writing the last paper of my final term exams would be immense. Not just because its all going to be over and school will be closed for the next two months but also because I could see those packed bags at home, that day long train journey to Nani's (grandma) house and those countless mango trees loaded with ripe, juicy mangoes in her huge garden.

Summers would come and off we would go to Nani's to see all of my uncles, aunts and countless cousins. All of us wouldn't meet for the whole year but the moment we would see each other it felt like we has to pick from where we had left last summer. My mom's native house was almost a small mansion with big doors after doors, tall staircases leading into huge halls and rooms as big as our whole house. A few of those rooms were just stores, godam, we could call them and during summer those godams would be filled with mangoes. So many of them that the aroma would fill the whole house and also you from within.

For the next two months we would eat mangoes in all shapes, sizes and forms. Pickled with spices, pureed to make aam panna reduced to make jams and jellies and dried to make fruit leathers. I would be so overwhelmed with all of it that after a few days I would stop eating my favorite fruit through out my stay there. My brother never made that mistake and would relish their sweet and juicy goodness as much as he could. Now I wish I would have done the same because fate brought me so far away from those mangoes that now how hard I try I can't get that taste here in the foreign land. But fate did bring me closer to and introduced me to many new flavors which I hope is helping my daughter make her own memories.

When we moved to a new house last year, along with it we got a sweet gift of some fruit trees two of which are greengage tree. I had never before heard of the fruit and it was only when the fruits loaded the trees I started doing research I found that they are from the plum/plout family. I along with my few dear friends who couldn't escape receiving a weekly delivery of a box of greengages, was greatly surprised at how unbelievably juicy and delicious this fruit is. The outer skin is tangy and the inside is sweeter than sugar. Both the trees have been graced with fruits more than we, our neighbors or our friends could handle. So I have been doing the same what my aunts at my Nani's place would do to their mangoes. Cooking them to whatever shape, size and form I can. I have canned a lot of them in the past few weeks so today sharing two recipe with you. One of Greengage jam with fennel and black pepper and the other of Greengage Jelly. I started with approximately 8 quarts of chopped greengages. First I used the juice to make the jelly and then the remaining pulp for the jam. You can always discard the pulp if you do not want the jam or reduce the juice for longer time if you do not want to make the jelly.

Recipe for Greengage Jelly:

Ingredients:
8 quarts ripe greengages/green, yellow plums
4 1/2 cups cane sugar (This fruit is really sweet so asked for less sugar but if you are using some other less sweeter fruits then you might want to increase the amount of sugar)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 pouch (1 3/4 oz) fruit pectin (no sugar added)

Method:
Wash the greengages thoroughly. Core and cut one into 8-10 slices. If you like you can blanch and then take the skin off of the fruit. I was just too lazy to do it and it just helped the jam to be tangier which we love.
Transfer the sliced fruit into a large, non reactive vessel which has a thick bottom, a wide mouth and is not very deep. This should keep the fruit from crowding and would help an easy distribution of heat throughout and that in return reduces the cooking time. I used a vessel similar to this.
Turn on the heat and let the fruit simmer until they are soft and cooked well, for about 30-45 minutes. The fruit I used was really ripe and juicy so I did not have to add any water but if yours is firm you can just about 1/2-1 cup of water.
Strain the fruit through multiple layers of cheesecloth, a sheer white cotton piece of cloth or a strainer.
Transfer the juice into a pot again. Save the pulp for the jam.
Save 1/2 cup of sugar and add the rest to the the fruit juice. Mix well and turn on the heat. Then add rest of the sugar mixed in pectin.
Stir everything well together and bring the mixture to a rolling boil for 1 minute. Skim the foam formed on top.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15-30 minutes. I follow these steps to check whether my jelly or jam is done.
Once it passes the "doneness" test, turn the heat off, add lemon juice and mix it well. Let it sit for 5 minutes before transferring into washed, dried and warm mason jars with air tight lids. I always let my jars run through a dishwasher cycle before I use then for canning.

Recipe for Greengage Jam

Ingredients:
Leftover pulp from the above recipe (Approximately 3 1/2-4 quart) Please keep in mind that this is cooked and reduced fruit. So if you are starting from scratch then I suggest you start with approximately 5 quarts of fresh fruit.)
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 1/2 tablespoon crushed black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 cup lemon juice

Method:
Heat oil in a thick bottom, non reactive pan preferably with a wide mouth (as linked above).
Add fennel seeds and cracked pepper. As they sputter add the fruit pulp with sugar.
Mix well and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and let it simmer for about 45 minutes- 1 hour.
To test if your chutney is done, take some in the back of your spoon and let it stay out in the air for about 10-15 seconds then run a finger through it.
Turn the heat off, add lemon juice and mix it well. Let it sit for 5 minutes before transferring into washed, dried and warm mason jars with air tight lids.

Cherry Ginger Chutney

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:02:00 +0000

This post is long overdue. Ever since summer knocked on our doors and red plum cherries loaded the trees this post was supposed to come. Like every year, sometime in May we took a trip to the cherry farms with some close friends. These farm picnics are always fun. Kids get to be kids, goofing around, chasing each other, climbing trees and for some time us "grown ups" get to do the same.

We picked a lot of cherries, ate them to our heart's content and still had pounds to bring back home. When I was paying for 10 pounds of cherries that day I knew what I was going to do and had also planned to blog about it. But then life, health and general "stuff" took a toll on me and this recipe never ended up on this blog. Thank god I had cooked up those cherries before all craziness happened. Now that my health is in my favor and I felt like blogging again I thought I'd start with this recipe.

So I used up the cherries to make Cherry Ginger Chutney. Sweet and tangy cherries married really well with the light spiciness of ginger. I used a couple more spices to spruce it up. Mummy always adds fennel seeds to her chutney. She says its great for the digestion and I just generally love the way flavors dance with the touch of fennel seeds.

In traditional Indian cooking jaggery is used a lot for the sweetness. Gur, or jaggery is the raw unrefined form of cane sugar or sometimes date sugar. Its formed from cane or date juice with extracting molasses from it. Its golden or dark brown in color which brings an earthiness to the dish and is definitely a healthier and better option to white cane sugar. They usually come in blocks which can be easily broken down to powder or you can even find jaggery powder in the market. Its used a lot in Indian desserts and also in cooked chutneys like this one.

Ingredients
2 lb pitted cherries
1/4 lb jaggery - I buy dark jaggery powder from Indian store. Powder dissolves easily than blocks. You can also use raw cane sugar or white granulated one if you want. You can add upto 1/2 lbs of sugar if you like your chutney sweet.
1/3 cup grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon nigella or onion seeds
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Method:
Heat oil in a thick bottom pan or pot. Oil should be smoking hot. Add bay leaves followed by fennel seeds, cumin and nigella. Cook the spices until they are brown. Should take about 10 seconds.
Add cherry, jaggery and ginger. Mix everything well together.
For the first 15-20 minutes cook on medium high heat. Stir every 3-4 minutes to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Once you get a feeling that cherry is now beginning to soften, turn the heat to low, cover with a lid and let it simmer. Stir occasionally every 20-25 minutes.
Let the chutney simmer until the cherries are softened and cooked well to the extent that it looses its shape. To test if your chutney is done, take some in the back of your spoon and let it stay out in the air for about 10-15 seconds then run a finger through it. If it wrinkles then its done.The whole process should take 1- 1 1/2 hours.
Turn the heat off and let it cool completely before storing in clean, dry and air tight containers. The chutney stays good in the refrigerator upto 2-3 weeks.

Simple Stir Fried Red Potatoes and "Lunch"

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna Singh) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 02:10:00 +0000

We had one permanent sabji wala (vegetable and fruit seller) who would make rounds every other day and bring fresh produce from his garden. He had this huge basket made out of bamboo which he would carry on his head and would make rounds around the neighborhood. Mummy would select things that interested her most out of that basket and that would decide what we will be eating for the next couple days until the sabji wala comes back again. We knew what to expect in that basket depending on the season. He would bring lots of dark green and crunchy cucumbers in summer along with some juicy yellow and red mangoes. Winters would be mostly about root vegetables, mustard greens and beans while monsoon brought carrots. So if he brought carrots in summers or cucumbers in winter, mummy would teach him a lesson or two about organic farming and return back everything. This is how we grew up and still never realized how lucky we were.

When I was little, we were lucky enough to have access to local small farmers who would drop organic produce from their garden, at our doorstep. We were lucky to know the real taste of mangoes and we knew why some vegetables took longer to cook than others. We were taught that its better to eat your potatoes with skin on and crunchier the beans, the better. Those little lessons and those bits of knowledge fed to us at the dinner tables, in and around the kitchen and out in the backyard while getting our hands dirty, always stuck with me. Although, the true realization didn't come until I had a child of my own and I relived those experiences with her.

She is almost three now and curiously observes things around her which amaze her a lot. She tries to find a reason behind everything we do. She doesn't like to be told what to do but likes to watch us and does what we do because she thinks whatever Maa and Papa do is right. Her big eyes get even bigger when told that we can make a birdhouse out of a milk carton and then sits with me the whole afternoon painting the carton, hoping it would turn into a birdhouse and then her favorite humming bird will never leave the house after that. She goes speechless when her Papa shows her how seven stars can come together to make a big spoon and wishes she could use it to eat her cereal every morning. Everything amazes them and everything makes them more curious.

She is equally amazed to see that the tomatoes that she ate till now were green before they actually turned red and juicy. Carrots actually come out of the soil and not from a plastic box at a grocery store and it takes way too much time for the strawberries and cherries to be good enough for her to pick off the tree. I have seen that when she gets an answer to all her why, how and whats she eats her food better. She prefers to pick carrots and broccoli over french fries and hamburgers when she understands what will make her healthier and stronger.
That's how the kids are. If they are helping in the garden and are involved in the preparation of the food then they are more likely to try that food than just setting it on the table and asked to eat. They want an adventure out of everything and at the same time they thrive to learn. So all we need to do is educate them and let them get their hands dirty. Teach them where their food comes from and how the whole life is interconnected. Teach them the importance of locally grown and organic food. We sometimes really underestimate our kids about what they would and wouldn't like. I am guilty of that too! But slowly and gradually I am trying to teach her and learning a lot myself along way. Not only about the food that we eat but also about my child and how her likes and dislikes change depending on my habits.

Its no secret how in America we are struggling with teaching our kids about healthy eating habits. Although I do not think its just a national issue but has become a global crisis or else famous and influential people like Mrs. Michele Obama and Prince Charles of Wales would not work so hard everyday to make their voices heard. Lunch, a small yet powerful documentary is trying to do the same. Lunch, a movie directed by Avis Richards, founder and CEO of Birds Nest Foundation is a documentary that shines a light on school lunch programs and teaches kids about healthy habits, gardening, fresh foods and more. I was invited by the wonderful people behind Lunch to watch the movie and if I believed in what they say, then tell you about it. I strongly support the message Lunch conveys and would encourage you to buy the movie or first watch the trailer and then decide. Its about time we stop feeding into all the politics and petty things that go behind the food that we eat and start thinking of our young people, our kids.

Today I am sharing a very simple recipe using a few basic ingredients. Some stir fried red potatoes from a local farm and I spiced them with cumin and curry leaves.

Ingredients:
1 pound small red potatoes
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
12-15 curry leaves
2 1/2 tablespoon ghee *Can substitute it with an cooking oil of choice
Salt to taste

Method:
Cut the potatoes into quarters. Wash them with water. Drain water. Set aside. I used small potatoes. If you think yours are a little bigger, cut them to 1 approx. 1 1/2" size.
Heat ghee/oil in a thick bottom pan. Add cumin seeds. As they sputter add curry leaves. Step aside for a few seconds because curry leaves sputter a lot because of the water content in the leaves.
Add sliced onion. Cook them on medium high heat for 3-5 minutes until they are slightly golden brown in color.
Add potatoes. Stir fry over medium high heat for approx. 5 minutes. Add salt. Stir well. Cover with a lid and let it cook over a medium low heat for 5-8 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.
Uncover and over medium high heat, cook off extra liquid if any. Serve hot as a side.

Sweet and Savory Orange Cumin Shortbread Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 05:45:00 +0000

Papa worked for the government so we lived in a small government quarter as kids. It had one bedroom. Well, two, but one of them was Papa's office and it was filled with files and more files. We were never allowed to enter his office and back then we never understood why. But now that I have a curious little butterfly of my own who has the ability of turning the whole house upside down in seconds, I know exactly why he did that.

Next to his office was a veranda which was our dining cum entertainment room and attached to that was mummy's tiny kitchen. The size of that room was exactly what the word tiny means! It was just about enough to accommodate almost one and a half person in it. Mummy did most of her prep work sitting on the doorstep of that kitchen. She would sit rolling mathri (Indian crackers) and filling samosas right there on the doorstep of that kitchen. That was the tiniest kitchen I have ever stepped into but the fondest food memories of my life came out of that kitchen.

She had this funny looking tabletop oven which I guess she owned even before we were born. It would be neatly packed and tucked in to the top shelf of her kitchen. She would pull it out only when it was our birthday. That's when she would make fruit cakes for the party. Strawberry icing for my birthday and chocolate for my brother's or when she would make khasta biscuit, sweet and savory shortbread cookies with some whole spices. The ghee in them would make them crumble if held too hard and they would melt in the mouth in seconds.

The ones with cumin and black pepper were her favorite and also my dadi's (grandma). So when we visited dadi, the oven would come out and mummy would make those cookies. The tiny oven would take not more than a dozen at a time so the process of making 50 of those would take the whole day. I have eaten those shortbread cookies a million times in my life but every time they taste exactly the same, lightly sweetened, just a tad bit of salt and cumin just enough to command its presence.

I tried to do something similar recently. Well, not recently but a few weeks back before this thing called "writer's block" hit me and I started running away from anything that involved typing words on a blank screen of my computer! But now that I forced myself out of that condition, I thought it would be right to share with you the recipe for these orange flavored khasta biscuits which I tried to make, inspired by the recipe of my mother. So here's the recipe for Sweet and Savory Orange Cumin Shortbread Cookies.

Ingredients: Makes 3 dozen
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup ghee (clarified butter) *Can substitute it with softened butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (loosely packed)
1 teaspoon salt
Zest of two large oranges- almost 2 1/2 tablespoon
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2-3 tablespoon orange juice ** Can substitute with milk.
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F.
In a large bowl, sift together salt, all-purpose flour and baking powder. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and ghee (or butter if using that) until they are just combined. Add orange zest and cumin seeds. Slowly add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Add orange juice to make the dough smooth.
Take the combined dough out of the mixer and knead with your hands over a clean counter top lightly dusted with flour. Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll them into logs. Cover with a plastic wrap. At this stage I just smoothed out the longer sides of the log giving it a square shape. Put it in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to firm.
Pull the dough out and cut into squares about 1/4"- 1/2" thick. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, an inch apart from each other.
Bake them for 10-12 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown in color. Take it out of the oven and cool on a cooling rack before serving with hot milk, coffee or chai.

One Fine Day And Some Roasted Carrots & Spring Onions With Chaat Masala

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:04:00 +0000

Today I have way more photos to share with you than I have words. Photos from one fine day under the sun with some dear friends close by, the little one's soft chubby palm wrapped around my finger and a camera held in the other hand.

It was a nice change to walk by people grabbing their coffee mugs rushing to work while me pausing after every two minutes taking pictures or following the little one running after pigeons.

After a long time I finally got a much needed break from a hectic schedule. A few of us friends (Rose, Vijitha and Kankana) planned to drop whatever we were busy doing and just took a day off to unwind.

As an added bonus, we also shared some common interests which, lets just say, involves camera and eating! So for one full day we ate, took photos, and then ate some more.

The same day at the farmer's market I picked some gorgeous root vegetables so I am sharing with you a quick recipe for some Roasted Heirloom Carrots and Spring Onions. These tender and vibrant little sweet treats demand no adulteration. Less does the trick with them. So I just tossed them in olive oil, threw them in the oven for a few minutes, sprinkled a dash of chaat masala and served with our evening chai. They went faster than you can imagine!

Ingredients:
2 bunches of purple, yellow and orange heirloom carrots
1 bunch spring onions
1 tablespoon good quality extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon chaat masala

Method:
Wash the root vegetables thoroughly under water. Wipe off any dirt. Chop of the green, leafy part and save then for other recipes. I chop them and mix with flour to make parathas, poori, roti or can use then in veggie burgers or rice pilaf.

Cut the onions from the middle into two. Toss the vegetables with olive oil and bake them at 400 deg. for approximately 12-15 minutes.

Once baked, pull the vegetables out, sprinkle chaat masala on top and serve with a cooler or chai.

On a side note, I am excited to be interviewing with the fabulous Neel of Learn Food Photography next week! If you have any food photography questions that you would want to ask me then submit your questions to Neel here.

Methi Murgh

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:02:00 +0000

Through out the warmer part of the year, everyday after school he would have us help him out in the garden. Papa would work hard and set up a kitchen garden, by the house every year. Would work up the soil, go buy some new seeds and plants, pull out the older seeds saved from last year and sow them neatly under the soil. Tomatoes big and small, lauki (botte gaurd), squashes of several variety, onion, potatoes, karela (bitter gourd), eggplants and many more. He would have me and my brother help him out, water the plants, pick weeds and make sure Polley, our pet dog doesn't make that garden her personal bathroom.

There were parts of that chore that I liked, like throwing dirt and sneaking in small worms inside of my brother's shirt but then there were some that I hated. I would rather be watching MTv or chatting with my friends over the phone than talking to the plants at that age. But it was a chore and I had to do it!

I would ask Papa why he even bothers to work so hard over those vegetable plants which gave us produce barely enough to feed us a few meals through out the season. Why to sweat so much over those 14 little okras when mummy could buy a kilo for a rupee. He would smile and in his heavy deep voice would reply, "that's because I love you!". I never understood that answer and that expression of love.

But now after 20 years when I reap the first crop of methi (fenugreek) leaves off of my kitchen garden. A garden that I prepped up following each step Papa followed 20 years back and parts of which were a "chore" back then. When I carefully wash the dirt off of each leaf, chop them make and religiously brown each methi paratha on the skillet smothering some homemade ghee on it and secretly hoping that the picky eater in the family would like it. And when my daughter finishes it up in minutes and asks for a second helping, I know exactly what he meant back then. Now I understand how something as simple as working to provide a good wholesome meal can show your immense love for a person. I am not sure if my daughter realizes this expression of love yet but I am sure in another 20 years she will and hopefully will spread the same.

After a long few busy weeks and no blogging at all something like this of a realization could only have brought me back to the blogging world again. I am glad to be back and to be able to speak with you again. Hope you are keeping well, I am too. Today sharing with you a recipe for Methi Chicken, (chicken cooked with fresh fenugreek leaves). Its one of my dad's recipes which I absolutely love and is so simple to make. As long as you have fenugreek leaves and some chicken you will not have to run to the grocery store, I promise you that. And for those who are not familiar with fenugreek, here's a little info. So enjoy, till I see you again!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken (I used cut whole chicken, with bones but you can use any part and adjust the cooking time accordingly.
1 1/2 cup fresh fenugreek leaves, chopped (1 cup fenugreek leaves for 1 lb of chicken)
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (omit if not available)
1 tablespoon ginger (grated)
1 tablespoon garlic (grated) or use 2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste, though fresh tastes better.
2-3 thai green chili (slit from middle)
1 1/2 tablespoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup tomato
1 tablespoon ghee (optional)
2 tablespoon cooking oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the chicken thoroughly. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, mix together ginger, garlic, turmeric, fenugreek seeds, coriander powder, chili and salt. Add chicken. Rub everything well together. Cover and let it marinate for atleast 2 hours or better overnight.
Heat ghee and oil in a heavy bottom pan with a cover. Add chicken. Saute the chicken and cook it under medium heat until its cooked half way through.
Add fenugreek leaves. Mix well, cover and cook on medium heat until the chicken is cooked. Stir occasionally, scraping the sides if they stick.
Towards the last 5 minutes add tomato. Adjust salt if required and upto 1/2 cup water if the curry is too thick. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, on a medium high heat.
Once the tomatoes melt and the chicken is cooked and slightly browned on the sides, its ready to eat.
Serve hot with Naan, Roti or simple pulav

Indian Simmer Loves- The Spice Spoon

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:02:00 +0000

Its been quite an experience this past few months. Life couldn't be crazier (or so do I think!) with the day packed with a never ending list of "things" needed to be done. Trying to juggle work, family and my sanity together. I do not say that I am doing a good job with it or have reached the goal, but I am getting there. Hopefully life will get back to normal soon and I will get to do things that I haven't been able to do in months, like sleeping or sitting and wondering what to do next? And I could not thank you enough for your support and my friends who always have my back. One such dear friend I am featuring today as a part of Indian Simmer Loves is Shayma Saadat, the beautiful face behind lovely blog The Spice Spoon. If you want to read some good writing and some nostalgic stories which would take you back to your childhood and relive those forgotten moments, then you should read Shayma's food blog. I for one am a great fan of her as a person and food writer. I am proud that she agreed to be a part of this series on my blog today. Please welcome Shayma Saadat!

Tell us about yourself and what you would say is your food philosophy?
I am a Pakistani-Afghan with Irani ancestry. I was born in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up in Pakistan, the US, Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh and the UK. I lived and worked in Rome, Italy for several years after which my husband and I, true to our nomadic expat lifestyle, made Toronto, Canada our new home.
My cookery style is reminiscent of the comfort food I grew up eating in my home- clove and cumin fragranced basmati pilafs; slow-braised spicy mutton stews, laced with ginger and garlic; and cardamom-infused milky rice puddings. The dishes I prepare are a reflection of my heritage; the food prepared by the women in my family.

What led you to start a food blog?
I had just moved to Toronto from Rome and wanted to recreate those dishes which reminded me of my childhood in an attempt to feel rooted in a place I felt lost. Since recipes are passed down through an oral tradition in my part of the world, I decided to put pencil to paper and document the recipes created by the women in my family – from my Afghan, Irani and Pakistani heritage.

What would you say "The Spice Spoon" is all about and please share a recipe that best describes your blog?
My blog, based on heritage cookery, reads like a food memoir. I relate each recipe to a memory- often from my childhood- of loved ones and of the places I have lived in. When I write a vignette, I want my readers to feel that they can relate to it on a nostalgic level. I want it to remind them of the place and time they tasted a dish their mother prepared for them as a child.
Through my stories, I also want people to see my part of the world- Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran through a different optic- with a more human face, rather than in a negative light, as is often depicted in the media.

The recipe I am sharing with you today, Chicken Sliders in the Pakistani Manner with Mint Aïoli, is based on my Ami’s (mother) love for green chilies, ginger and fresh, verdant cilantro. Ami and I often have these kebabs with our afternoon tea, as most Pakistanis like to enjoy something savory during tea time. We dip them in a mint-yoghurt sauce, which inspired me to create a mint aïoli for the sliders.

Chicken Sliders with Mint Aïoli
You will need 8-10 slider rolls
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
*1 slice whole wheat bread, toasted
*1 pound minced chicken (my butcher uses chicken breast)
* ½ a small onion, sliced very thinly
*1 small thumb ginger, julienned
*2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, stems and leaves
*2-3 Thai bird chilies, sliced straight into the mixture with kitchen shears
*1 egg
*2 tsp salt
*Any neutral oil (grape seed, for e.g.) for shallow frying
*Large frying pan

Preparation:
*Toast sliced bread till crisp. Allow to cool, then pulverize in a blender or food processor till it transforms into crumbs. Place in large mixing bowl.
*Add minced chicken, onion, ginger, cilantro, chilies, egg, salt and mix to combine. Use a spatula or gloves as the chilies can burn your fingers.
*For a salt-taste test, place frying pan on medium-high heat and add 1 teaspoon oil
*Take ½ a teaspoon of the mixture and drop into the hot oil. Flip on other side till done. Taste for salt. Add more salt to chicken mixture if necessary.
*Apply oil to your hands (or use gloves) and form meat into 2-inch round flat patties, about ½ -inch thick. Set aside on parchment / wax paper.
*Heat ¼ inch of oil in a pan over medium heat. Working in batches, add patties to oil and fry for 60-90 seconds per side or until golden brown and cooked through, adding more oil as needed (you may need to change the oil as it darkens)
*Transfer to a newspaper or paper towels to absorb excess oil

Mint Aïoli

Ingredients:
*2 fresh egg yolks (or pasteurized yolks)
*1 teaspoon minced garlic
* ½ cup fresh mint
*1½ cups olive oil
*1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
*Sea salt to taste

Preparation:
*In a blender, blitz yolks. garlic and mint till well incorporated
*While the blender is running, add oil in very slowly, in a thin stream
*Add lemon juice
*Add sea salt to taste

Assemble:
You will need olive oil
Slice the slider rolls in half, and brush the insides with olive oil. Place under your broiler till golden. Sandwich chicken kebab between slider roll after you slather it with mint aïoli. Serve with an arugula and cherry tomato salad, dressed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Enjoy with family and friends on a lovely spring afternoon. And if you so please, pop open a bottle of a chilled Italian Falanghina.

Winners- Indian Food Palooza

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:33:00 +0000

First of all I am so sorry for this delayed post. As I must have ranted at many other occasions, time is really something I am running short of lately. Its been- all work and no play, kind of a scenario these days. But all this, so that I finish all the boring stuff soon and get back to fun ASAP! So please bear with me and I will be back to you and my blog real soon.

Other than this, something that really pushed me off the hook yesterday was this post which I worked on putting up for you guys. I scheduled a timed post so that you can see it on time even if I get busy and can't attend to it. This morning I woke up hoping to see emails from the winners and the other participants but all I found was a no show! Not only was the post not published but it was no where to be found in my drafts. So blogger.com, PLEASE pull your stuff together and step up your game!

Alright, so now that the rant part if over lets get to the good news shall we? When I, Kathy and Barbara were planning this event Indian Food Palooza, we never imagined that you will welcome it with such open arms. You and your recipes proved the event to be a great success and all of us want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You are inspiring me to bring a bigger and grander event next time, so stay tuned!

Entries to Indian Food Palooza were closed on March 31st and then on April 1st we chose five lucky winners via random.org. The list below in no chronological order and is not on the basis of any merit but purely random. And the winners are...

Madhur Recipe's - Mixed Vegetable Curry in Coconut Milk Sauce- Tropical Traditions Coconut Flour

Kitchen Kemistry- Tangdi Kabab- Tropical Traditions Coconut Flakes

Spices And Aroma- Omelet Kozhambhu- Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil

Sunshine And Smile- Khandvi- Set of Indian Spices from My Spice Sage.

50 Recipes in 2012- Stuffed Eggplant- J.K. Adams artisan maple cutting board from Creative Culinary

Congratulations you guys! Please contact either me, Kathy or Barbara via email with your postal addresses and then we can go from there.

Indian Simmer Loves- Journey Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:21:00 +0000

Last one week was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me and my friends and family. Some fabulous highs and then some sudden lows. I was confused how to take it all in and then I met Kulsum online and we started talking. As usual she knew how to say the right things and bring me back to smile. Has it ever happened to you that someone makes you feel so comfortable and slowly sneaks into your life and you do not even know how he or she looks like? Like a pen friend you have never had as a child. That's what Kulsum and I have become during the course of this one year that we've known each other. We started our food blogs almost around the same time. She writes a lovely food blog Journey Kitchen where she shares her recipes, beautifully blending the modern and traditional Indian cooking. She is funny, spontaneous and LOVELY to talk to and it shows clearly in her writing. With her sweet stories she can easily become a part of you and with her approachable recipes she will make you cook India food. Don't even make me start on her photography skills, her photographs are nothing less than an eye candy. So let's meet Kulsum Kunwa of Journey Kitchen!

Tell us about yourself and what you would say is your food philosophy?
To start with, my name is Kulsum and I’m the blogger behind the blog Journey Kitchen. I’m an Indian expat born and brought up in a small Middle Eastern country of Kuwait. Then, life took a turn and my family shifted back to India for good. But as luck had it, I got married and moved back to Kuwait to live with my husband! Growing up, I was clearly the most enthusiastic foodie in the house. I criticized, demanded and talked about food with my mom all the time, but it was not until I got married, I truly understood the value of those conversations. My mom has always been a modern cook whereas my mother in law is a traditional one, my understanding of traditional food and its modern interpretation stems from these two fabulous ladies in my life.

My food philosophy is quite simple- wholesome and flavorful food and spice plays an important role in creating that food.

What led you to starting a food blog?
When I started I didn’t know what ‘blogging’ was. For me, it was an online journal so that I could share recipe links with my friends. I love talking about food, where it comes from, how it should be cooked, how it affects our lives, how it is related to our past and my friends as I soon realized where not very keen on all that talking. The blog helped me talk to myself and save the pain for my friends I guess. Eventually, I found people online who were passionate about food as much as I’m. Today, Journey Kitchen is my creative outlet, from recipes to photography, it is my happy place.

What would you say "Journey Kitchen" is all about and please share a recipe that best describes your blog?
Journey Kitchen is a modern Indian cooking blog. But unlike what many think, modern cooking is not about moving away from the traditional roots instead it’s about going back to the traditional ingredients and cooking method and recreating them using latest techniques. Journey Kitchen is about food that has reassurance and comfort of the past but is also exciting enough to enjoy it today. It’s my humble attempt to change the way Indian food is perceived. My husband’s love for traditional food and my love for modern make sure we always have great food and humorous arguments on the table which I often share on the blog.

Today’s recipe is inspired from a traditional sweet yogurt recipe from the city of Kolkatta called Mishti Doi (Mishti meaning sweet and doi meaning yogurt) , which my husband has childhood memories of. Mishti Doi is also called Lal doi meaning red yogurt due to it characteristic reddish color. It is made by caramelizing milk and then setting fresh yogurt in earthen pots. Considering I always have dulce de leche on hand, sweetening my hot chocolate and drizzle it over everything I bake, I figured it will work great for adding that caramelized flavor for Mishti doi.

Dulce de leche is a Latin American spread, made by slowly converting the sugar in sweetened condensed milk until it caramelizes. After hours of cooking what you get is creamy, caramel flavored sweet milk, almost like a jam. I always make my own but you could easily use store bought.

Baked Dulce de leche Yogurt – Mishti Doi
Serves: 6-7

Ingredients

2 cups yogurt
1 can (395g) dulce de leche
100 ml heavy cream
1/2 tsp rose water (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven at 170 C. Whisk all the ingredients together for 2-3 minutes.

You can use individual ramekins or a large oven safe bowl to bake it. The baking time with differ according to what you use, but it generally ready when it’s thick and set in the middle. For the small ramekins I used, I baked them for only 15 minutes. Baking in larger bowl can take up to 30 -40 minutes. When I recently made it again, I thought of covering the ramekins with aluminum foil which helped in reducing the little drying you see at the edges when you bake in small ramekins.

Once baked, let it come to room temperature and chill for at least 5 hours before serving. Garnish with pecans.

Jalebi Recipe & Announcing #IndianFoodPalooza

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:45:00 +0000

I was putting her to bed and as usual she says Maa, kahani (Mom, story). My already tiny, box of stories was almost empty this time. I couldn't think of any new friendly dragon or a lion king's story. But then somehow I ended up telling her about this bus ride I would take with my Papa as a kid. We would go visit my grand mother who lived in another city, a few hour drive away. The bus would go through a jungle, over the mountain, across two rivers and would pass a hanuman temple. I would always looks for real monkeys outside of the temple, but could never see one. It looked like she was starting to like the story, her eyes can tell everything very easily. And then those eyes widened a little more when I told her about this bus stop and the mithai shops (sweet shops) around it. Jalebi? She asked, when I told her about the several sweets in those mithai shops. Maa, I like Jalebi. You never make jalebi, she complained. I think you should make it one day, she suggested. I will, I promised. Pakka (sure), she asked. Yes, I smiled and carried on with the bus ride and jungle.

But after that conversation only a heartless or a fool would wake up next morning and not make jalebis! I had different plans for my first recipe, kick starting this Indian food event Indian Food Palooza but plans are meant to change, right? I had never made jalebi before in my life and although these crunchy little sweet treats were greatly missed after moving to the US, they always intimidated me. But then I thought if I really wanted to have you get out of your comfort zone and try cooking Indian food, then I should get over my intimidation too. So I made some jalebis for my little monster and also for this fun event that today I am starting with two very dear friends of mine and Indian food enthusiasts Kathy and Barbara. Well, the jalebis did not turn out to be the prettiest ones but they sure were crispy, light, sweet and absolutely nostalgic!

The day I announced my book, I, Kathy and Barbara were chatting on twitter. Somehow the conversation turned to Indian food and how some people find it a little intimidating. And then somehow we got this crazy idea for an event where we could motivate people to cook some Indian food and learn a few things about it and maybe along the way can teach us a thing or two as well. And the next thing we know, we were planning Indian Food Palooza (credit for the name goes to Barbara by the way!). Some friends were gracious enough to giveaway some prizes too.

We are very happy to announce a month long event Indian Food Palooza, celebrating Indian food and cooks like you. We would love for you to join us and cook some Indian food this month. Whether you are experienced with cooking Indian cuisine or a little new to it, we encourage you to try something this month and let us know about it. Towards the end of this post I have listed out how you can join us with this event and also the details for some fabulous giveaways we have for you. But before that how about you take a look at the recipe for jalebi?

Recipe in detail:

INGREDIENTS: Makes about 8-10 jalebis
1 cup all purpose flour
2 ½ tablespoon rice flour
1 teaspoon yeast or 3 tablespoon sour yogurt
¼ teaspoon saffron
¼ teaspoon turmeric
For Sugar Syrup-
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon rose water (optional)
Oil (for deep frying)

METHOD:In 2-3 tablespoon hot water dissolve yeast. Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Now combine flour and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast and adding water, little at a time make a thick batter. Cover and let it ferment for an 1-2 hours.
If using yogurt instead of yeast then repeat the same process just the batter would be thinner in this case. Exactly like a pancake batter. Cover and ferment for 6-8 hours or overnight.
In the meantime make a one strand sugar syrup cooking sugar and water for 15-20 minutes on medium heat.
After fermentation the batter should be light and flowy. Add extra water if needed.
Heat oil for deep frying. Using a funnel, piping bag (with tip number 12), a Ziploc bag (cut a small opening), a jalebi maker of a plastic ketchup bottle with a nizzle like opening, pipe the batter into the oil in circular motion.
Fry until the jalebi is golden on both sides. Take it out of the fryer and drop into the hot syrup for 5-7 seconds. Strain the extra syrup out and take the jalebis out. Serve with yogurt, rabdi or just as it is.

To be eligible to win a prize you must:

Post an Indian dish on your blog between March 1, 2012 and March 31, 2012.

Link your dish up using the linking tool at the bottom of the post; only one entry per person please. Entering your dish on any of our sites will have it display on all three.

Put a link in your post to this post so that your readers can join us too!

Prize winners will be chosen and winners notified March 31, 2012 using the email included on the link created. Winners will have until April 4, 2012 to respond with shipping information or another winner will be chosen.

Please note: We want to encourage everyone to join us and share their experience but our
sponsors are shipping prizes directly and have requested that we limit the shipping area to the
Continental USA.
Prizes to be awarded include:

2.2 lbs Organic coconut flour from Tropical Traditions for one of my readers that
link up a recipe. (We have three separate prizes from this company; each of us will be posting something unique. Visit Kathy and Barbara to see what they have in store.
Set of Indian Spices from My Spice Sage. Ten (4 oz) resealable bags. See website for full product information.
J.K. Adams artisan maple cutting board from Vino Luci store; a wine accessory and gift store.

My other two partners in crime:
Kathy of The Colors of Indian Cooking is making Aviyal
Barbara of Creative Culinary is making Mumbai Sandwich

Some other useful links which might help you with Indian cooking.
KO Rasoi by Sanjana
Chef In You
eCurry by Soma Rathore
Journey Kitchen by Kulsum
Cook In a Curry by Maunika Gowardhan
Tongue Ticklers by Harini Prakash
Lite Bite by Sanjeeta
Veggie Belly by Sala Kanan
Kothiyavunu which is a great source for Kerala recipes
Sandhyas Kitchen
Cookbooks by Suvir Saran and Madhur Jaffery

Chocolate Surprise Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Prerna) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 07:47:00 +0000

She has a mouth full of teeth now and she can brush them herself too. Then standing on the tip of her toes on top of the step stool, leaning towards the mirror she counts them every night before going to bed, in case there's one missing. She is embarrassed beyond belief if I ask her in front of "people" whether she wants to go pee pee. She has opinions when it comes to dressing her up or dressing me up for that matter. And she wants to "create food" in the kitchen (yes, that's what she calls it) just like maa does. "I do not want to watch, I want to HELP" she would demand when asked to stay away from the burner. Just letting her drop a couple spoonfuls of sugar or having her stir the pot doesn't work anymore. She wants to "create the food" from start to finish wearing an apron like maa. I wonder who she gets this from! *smirk*

So we decided to spend some good time in the kitchen together (which we are not getting a lot lately!) and create some food. On being asked what she wants to create the answer was "marshmallows.. No No..egg. No wait, marshmallows is fine!" Now creating marshmallows with a two year old might be little tricky so we decided to take the easy route and baked some cookies with marshmallows on them. I had this recipe bookmarked in my computer which was very easy to put together and perfect to make while having fun, so I chose that. I made a few variations so that it gets easier for the two year old and also exciting to see what she could do all by herself.

I was surprised to see how well she measured the flour and broke the eggs. Well, when it came to measuring sugar and melting chocolate I could understand why she was a little sneaky but I was surprised to see how well she did. She patiently cut each marshmallow and waited in front of oven with arms closed and tapping her toes while the cookies were baking. And when the time came to drizzle molten chocolate on top of the cookies, the sparkle in her eyes and that smile on her face could tell how important it was for her to "create that food" all by herself. They came out perfect, soft chocolate cookies with gooey marshmallows and rich chocolate worked well together. Later, all three of us sat down to enjoy those warm cookies with a warm heart!

The recipe I used for these cookies was from the MarthaStewart.com. I tweaked it a little to make it easier for the little one to manage (under my constant supervision and with a little help of course). I omitted the whole frosting part completely and instead just melted some dark chocolate with some heavy cream and the little one drizzled it on top of the cookies when they cooled down.

Ingredients: (Adapted from marthastewart.com)
Makes a little over 2 dozen (I made 28)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used 3/4 cup whole wheat with 1 cup APF)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (room temperature softened)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12-15 marshmallows
1/2 cup semisweet/dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoon heavy cream

Method:

Preheat the oven at 375 deg. F (Mine burnt at 375 so baked the second batch at 350 for sharp 10 min.)
In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In an electric mixer cream butter and sugar together until they turn light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Beat together until they are well combined. Add flour slowly on low setting until they are combined.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and then using a spoon or ice cream scoop drop batter on the baking sheet about a couple inches apart from each other or when you bake the butter melts, cookie spreads and they stick to the ones next to them.
Let them bake for 10 minutes. They bake up fast so keep an eye. Mine burnt on the bottom when I baked them for 12 minutes at 375 deg. F.
In the meantime cut marshmallows horizontally into halves.
Take the cookies out of the oven, place one marshmallow half (cut side down) over each cookie. Put them back in the oven and bake for 3-4 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool before frosting.
While the cookies cool melt chocolate chip cookies with cream in a double boiler. Once the chocolate melts whisk it thoroughly mixing cream and chocolate together making a think paste.
Now you can either transfer this ganache into a piping bag or using a spoon drizzle it over the cookies.
Enjoy!