Daily Archives: May 20, 2014

Iddiappam tokku sevai

Preparation Time : 40 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serving : 6 to 8 minutes

Description

Iddiappam tokku sevai. A delight to the vegetarians which is a one box meal. This dish will surely be easy to pull of at home. All the ingredients in this dish compliment each other well that it helps to add more taste to the dish. A dish which my elder mother – in – law(my father-in -laws elder brothers wife)Mrs. Mahmudha sent over to my place once. She’s become a vegetarian by choice recently.A very knowledgeable lady as she has travelled a lot. she keeps experimenting in her kitchen as i do but with a lot of vegetarian dishes now a days. The word Iddiappam was new to me when i first heard it while on a excursion trip from school to mysore.We were taken to a Restaurant for Dinner and served South Indian Meals.Most of the North Indian senior girls wanted a tiffin item instead so they asked for iddiappam.After that once i was married to Nellai the word iddiappam was mentioned again.Curious to know what it was, to my surprise it was the nool puttu that we make at home so often.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Iddiappam	20
Onion	4 sliced
Tomato	3 chopped
Oil	3 tablespoons
Cinnamon	1 inch piece
Cloves
Green chillies	2 slit
Ginger garlic paste	1/2 teaspoon each
Turmeric powder	1/4 teaspoon
Chilli powder	1 teaspoon ,
Thick coconut milk	1/2 cup
Coriander leaves	few chopped
Cow gram( also known as cow peas , karamani in Tamil )	1/4 cup boiled
Carrot	1 big grated
Salt	to taste

Method

Heat oil add cinnamon and cloves . Once they crackle top with onions and fry to brown in colour .
Add the ginger garlic paste and fry to crisp . Top with tomatoes and green chillies and sauté till the tomatoes lets out all its juices and gets to a thick cooked gravy .
Add turmeric powder , chilli powder and salt to taste . Mix well . Sauté for a minute . Top with thick coconut milk , mix well and bring to boil .
Simmer for 3 minutes or until oil floats on top . Cool the tokku gravy completely . Shred the iddiappam and mix it with the gravy to get a lightly moistened iddiappam which is coated well with the tokku gravy .
Be careful as the Iddiappam should not be mixed with a lot of gravy and get soggy . Garnish with boiled cow gram , grated carrot and chopped coriander leaves .
Toss well . Serve hot .

Bread bonda

Preparation Time : 40 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serving : 8 members

Description

Bread Bonda. A tea time brunch that my mom used to make when i was a kid . Very rarely did mom get into the kitchen to cook as she was so busy helping dad with his business. I use to love seeing my mom cook and being in the kitchen. Though mom is not a great cook. The little she cooks is jaw dropping.My son till date tells that my mom is the worlds best cook.I am still struggling to win my boys heart through his tummy. My parents were here at my place for a day, last week. They got to see my cooking competition pictures only then.The pride my mom had in her seeing those pictures and showing it to dad. That one moment i was filled with utter joy as my mom was not at all happy about me starting sauté ,fry n bake. She kept complaining saying its not going to do any good to you, stop wasting your time. Recently at a cousins wedding had so many friends,relatives and others who had liked sauté,fry n bake talk to me about my page.All along having my mom beside me. Happy i proved her wrong and made my parents feel proud about me . The joy of connecting with all you people through food which I am passionate about is ultimate .

Ingredients for filling

Ingredients	Quantity
Mixed vegetables	1 1/2 cup chopped ( cabbage , carrots , capsicum , green peas , beans , cauliflower )
Chicken or mutton mince	200 grams ( vegetarians can substitute with paneer or soya chunks )
Oil	1 tablespoon
Onion	1 big chopped
Green chillies	2 chopped
Coriander leaves	chopped few
Salt	to taste
Ginger garlic paste	1/2 teaspoon each
Pepper	to taste
Chilli flakes	to taste
Turmeric powder	a pinch
Lime	a squeeze

Other Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Bread	12 slices crusts cut
Water	2 cups
Salt	to taste
Bread crumbs	2 cups
Oil	to deep fry

Method for filling

Mix chicken or mutton mince with turmeric powder , ginger garlic paste , salt to taste and very little water and pressure cook until cooked through .
Boil till all the moisture has evaporated and the meat is dry . Heat oil and fry onions and green chillies to translucent .
Top with chopped mixed vegetables and sauté till vegetables are half cooked , stirring constantly .
Add the cooked minced meat , seasoning with pepper , chilli flakes , lime juice and salt to taste . Toss and mix well . Garnish with coriander leaves .
Set aside and cool completely .

How to Proceed

Mix salt to taste with2 cups of water . Take a slice of bread , dip into the salted water and squeeze between your palms to get a flat wet base .
Place a heaped tablespoon of filling in the Center . Bring all the four corners together and shape into a ball . Roll the balls in breadcrumbs evenly all around .
Do the same with all the bread slices and filling . Keep in the refrigerator till needed . ( I follow the recipe till this stage in advance and proceed only when required ) Heat oil to deep fry . Deep fry the bread bondas to golden brown in colour .
Drain and serve hot with tomato sauce.

Summer pudding

Preparation Time : 45 minutes + over night to set

Cooking Time : 5 minutes

Serving : 10 members

Description

Summer pudding . A dessert which is a treat to the eyes as well as your tummy. Recipe adapted from the book classic essential puddings which i bought 15 years back at a book exhibition held at my place. A small book with just 30 english dessert recipes but worth the buy as all the 30 pudding recipes are awesome. I have not yet tried all the recipes.I made this pudding when my cousins had come here. They just loved it. In fact my cousin brother muhazareen (babu)was like you should start a pudding boutique soon. The original recipe demanded a variety of berries , as its not available at my place, I have substituted with easily available fruits always . As summer is on its way soon, get ready for the heat folks.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
black currents	150 gm
red currents	150 gm
raspberries	150 gm
blackberries	150 gm
strawberries	200 gm (Hulled and quartered or halved)
caster sugar	1/2 cup ( 125 g ) or to taste
good quality sliced white bread	6 to 8 slices (crusts removed )

Method

Put all the berries except the strawberries in a large pan with 1/2 cup water and heat gently for 5 minutes or until berries begin to collapse . Add the strawberries and remove from heat . Add sugar to taste and cool .
Line a pudding basin or mould with bread . Cut a large circle out of one slice for the bottom and cut the rest of the bread into wide fingers . Drain a little of the juice off the fruit mixture .
Dip one side of each piece of bread in the juice before fitting in the juice side down , into the basin , leaving no gaps . Do not squeeze or flatten the bread or it will not absorb the juices .
Fill the Center of the basin with the fruits and add a little juice . Cover the top with the remaining dipped bread , juice side down , trimmed to fit . Cover with plastic wrap .
Place a small plate which fits inside the dish onto the plastic wrap ,then weight it down heavy cans or a glass bowl . Place on an oven tray to catch any juices which may over flow the basin .
Refrigerate over night . Carefully turn out the pudding and serve with any leftover fruit mixture and cream .

Original recipe adapted from classic essential puddings

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Apples	150 grams peeled and chopped
Bananas	150 grams chopped
Guava	150 grams chopped
Orange	1 segments alone
Pomegranate juice	1 fruit
Red food color	few drops , ( optional )
Sugar	3/4 cup
Bread slices	10 to 15 crusts removed
Butter	to grease
Strawberry crush	1 cup ( I used mapro toppings brand you can use Hershey's brand also )

Method

Put all the chopped fruits together along with the pomegranate juice and boil for 5 minutes .
Add sugar to taste ( be careful with sugar as the strawberries crush has a lot of sugar already . add the food colour . Cool completely .
Line or grease a pudding basin or a pudding mould . cut a large circle out of one bread slice for the bottom and wide fingers with the rest of bread slices .
Mix strawberry crush with red food colour ( optional , but gives a bright red colour to the pudding ) . Dip one side of each piece of bread in the strawberry crush before fitting it into the pudding mould , crush dipped side down on the bottom and sides with wide fingers over lapping each other leaving no gap .
Do not squeeze or flatten the bread as it will not absorb the juices . Fill the Center with the boiled fruit mixture with its juices . Cover the top with remaining dipped bread , juice side down .
Trim the edges to fit in . Cover with plastic wrap . Place a small plate which fits inside the dish onto the plastic wrap , then weight in down with heavy cans or a glass bowl .
Place over a tray or plate below to catch any juices which may over flow . Refrigerate over night .
Carefully turn out the pudding and serve with another brush up of strawberry crush .

Palak raitha

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 5- 8 minutes

Serving : 6 members

Description

Palak raitha. Normal raitha with a twist which tasted yum and is very healthy to. Last week had to send a vegetarian meal over to my friends place. Vegetarian ???? Didn’t know what to do. Broke my head over the menu for a long time and finally came up with some things and this raitha also was one among the dishes. My friend priyas mother in law loved this raitha that she called up to get the recipe from me. This raitha is an awesome combination with rotis and pulao’s. The word raitha always brings back memories of my class mate Rathi Unnikrishnan as she was the one who used this word first with me.Back then not knowing what a raitha was thought it was some exotic North Indian Dish.She did clear my doubt by taking me to our school library and showed me a book which had a picture of raitha (i think it was cucumber raitha)I was like hay , we always make this at home with onions for biriyani but we call it thayir chutney.

Ingredients	Quantity
Spinach	2 cups blanched
Curd	2 1/2 cups
Green chillies	1 crushed
Salt	to taste
Onion	1 big finely chopped
Coconut grated	2 tablespoons
Sugar	1/2 teaspoon

Method

Mix curd with crushed green chillies , salt and sugar .
Add all the other ingredients and mix well . Taste and adjust .
Keep in the refrigerator and serve chill with rotis , pulaos or biriyanis as an accomplishment .

Dulce de leche cream cheese brownies

Preparation Time : 1 hour 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 – 35 minutes

Serving : 6 to 8 members

Description

This was what I posted in the foodie group home bakers guild for the master chef Mondays post in face book .

Hello talented bakers . This is Hazeena Seyad , a next door , day to day home maker (BAKER – A CLUELESS BAKER ) from Nellai ( Tamilnadu ) who is passionate about cooking and food . But baking and me are far apart from each other as Baking is too precise for me . I cook with a pinch of this and that . Being a ravuthar Muslim ( Tamil speaking Muslim ) where we don’t have a single authentic dish that demands us to bake . Guess that’s where the baking got far apart from me. As a kid at home with a working mom , who seldom cooked for us during holidays and the only things she baked were chilli cheese toast and cauliflower bake in a tiny imported oven that is in working condition till date . Having done my schooling in a boarding school where our daily breads , puffs , tea cakes , cookies to our birthday cakes were baked every day fresh in the school bakery . I grew up with the aroma of baking through out my childhood days . Still all this was not enough to motivate me to try my hands in baking . I started to bake as a newly wedded bride , with all my attempts failing royally , followed with great embarrassment . Baking became a lost story in my mind and system until few years back when I saw Rachel Allen bake a quiche de Lorraine on the telly . Got the recipe from my friend Pallavi who just gave me approximate measurements which worked pitch perfect . Took me nearly 2 years after that to try my hands on cakes and cookies and I realised that Baking makes me focus on weighing the sugar , on sieving the flour That I found calming and rewarding because in fairness , it is sort of magic . You start of with all this desperate stuff such as butter and eggs and what you end up with is totally different and delicious :-)) .

I strongly believe that the little baking i do now a days is because of my best buddy gazeena sulu kunahmed as when we were kids together in boarding school , god infused the baking spark into her , a tiny bit just splashed and got into me as I was near here :-)) . The minute I got to see my name in this season of master chef monday posts , I got dead nervous as I am paired with the most sophisticated bunch of bakers . I just wished dec 16 th would be skipped in the calendar . Broke my head over what to post and finally stuck to this simple dulce de lycée , cream cheese brownies .

Oh, the joy of brownies , The black ones with the oozing fudge, The brown ones with powdered sugar, The white ones with chocolate chips but this one is the ultimate with the goodness of dulce de lycée , cream cheese and brownie . All in one bite Brownie .

Hope this post gets viral as all the other previous master chef Monday posts . Happy baking to all and here’s the recipe .

Brownie ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Unsweetened chocolate	4-5 ounces , coarsely chopped
Butter	8 Tablespoons (1/2 cup) - chopped into pieces
vanilla extract	1 teaspoon
1 1/4 cups of sugar	1 1/4 cups
slightly beaten eggs	2
All purpose flour	1/2 cup
kosher salt	1/2 teaspoon

Dulce de leche/Cream Cheese ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
sweetened condensed milk	1 (14oz) can
cream cheese at room temp	8 ounces
sugar	1/4 cup
vanilla extract	1 teaspoon
kosher salt	1/4 teaspoon
egg at room temperature	1

Method for Dulche de Leche

Find a heat proof bowl that fits snugly into a heavy pot. Fill the pot about an inch high with water.
*Make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water* Bring the water to a simmer. Empty the can of sweet milk into the bowl and place it over the simmering water.
Cover with foil and cook for about 2-3 hours depending on how dark you want the dulce de leche to be.
Stir the milk about every 20 minutes or so. Once you have the desired colour, remove the bowl from the heat. Stir until the mixture is smooth and set it aside to cool.
You can use the simmering pot of water again for the brownies. Add more water if necessary.

Just pressure cook the condensed milk tin with water just above the condensed milk tin for one whistle and then on a very low flame for another 40 minutes .
Remove from heat , wait for the cooker to cool down completely and then remove the condensed milk tin . Cool completely and use . ( this is what I do one day in advance or I have 2 tins of dulce de leche stored in my refrigerator all ready always , makes things more easy )

Method for Brownies

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line an 8×8 inch square baking pan with foil and lightly spray or butter.
Set aside.double boil the chopped chocolate and butter into a heat proof bowl. Stir just until everything is melted as smooth. Remove from heat.
Using a large spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla extract and sugar. One at a time, add the eggs, beating well (using spoon) after each addition.
Stir in the flour and salt. Mix vigorously until it becomes shiny and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Set the batter aside.

Method for Cream Cheese

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until it becomes creamy (about 30 seconds.) Add the sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat to combine.
Add the egg and beat for about 20 more seconds. Slowly add the dulce de leche. If it’s still warm, add a small amount to the cream cheese, wait a few seconds and beat it in.
Gradually add the remaining dulce de leche and beat until completely combined with the cream cheese. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the brownie batter and set it aside.
Pour the remaining batter into the prepared pan and spread it around into an even layer. Pour the dulce de leche/cream cheese mixture over the brownie layer.
Drop in the remaining brownie batter using a spoon or spatula. With a butter knife, carefully swirl the brownie batter into the dulce de leche.
It’s alright if the batter is too thick in some spots. Try not the mix the ingredients too much, just enough to make things interesting. Bake for 35-45 minutes.
Or until the center is just slightly film. Don’t worry if it jiggles around, it will harden as it cools off. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting.
Store in an air right containers at room temperature and can be had for four days .