Daily Archives: August 31, 2015

Tropical pudding

Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 1 -2 minutes + setting time in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight
Serves : 6-8 members

Description
Sending over food to people who really cook well gets me loose on my knees and if it’s to my father-in-laws place it’s even worse. Every year in the holy month of Ramadan, I make sure to share biriyani with all my close and dear ones. This year I just wanted to surprise every one with a dessert, snack and a main course instead. This dessert was sent over to my father-in-laws elder brother and younger brothers homes. As the entire holy month of Ramadan was extremely hot and humid, I wanted to make a dessert that was light with no eggs and less sugar. I was going through all my recipe links and I saw the tropical punch mock tail link that has ripe mangoes, tender coconut and palm fruit in it. The bulb moment… with a splash of spark in my mind, why not make a pudding with this same combination?? Tender coconut pudding is a regular at home which I can make when blind folded as well… I just added ripe mango bits and crushed Palm fruits to my regular tender coconut pudding. The results were too good with the recipe being asked from both my father-in-laws place. The little remains at home was relished by me alone.. Enjoying that moment of having it all for myself and not to share.. (Shame less, greedy, greedy me)

Ingredients	Quantity
condensed milk	1 cup
tender coconut water	1 cup + 1/4 cup to soak the gelatin
milk	1 cup
Vegetarian gelatin	3 and a 1/2 tea spoons
Tender coconut flesh	of 1 tender coconut
Ripe mango	1 peeled and chopped
Palm fruits	8 peeled and crushed with hands

Method

Soak gelatin in a microwave safe bowl with 1/4 cup tender coconut water. Set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.
Blend tender coconut water, milk and condensed milk together. Pour into wide vessel. Mix in the tender coconut flesh, chopped mangoes and crushed palm fruits. Mix well.
Microwave the bloomed gelatin for 30 seconds to dissolve. Cool to room temperature.
Mix the cooled gelatin into the tropical pudding mix and pour into a pudding tray or individual cups.
Place in the refrigerator to set for six hours or overnight and serve chilled.

Notes

In case you don’t have a microwave, you can Double boil the gelatin till dissolved and gets to a liquid running consistency. Cool completely and use.

Muhallabia

Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 15 minutes
Serves : 8-10 members

Description
An Arabic sweet dish that tastes very close to our Indian firni and kheer but with a totally another avatar. The rose flavour with the almonds give the right texture and aroma to the dish. The first time I made it, I was not sure if it would be liked by all but this simple dish was the talk of the table. I had set it in very tiny individual serving bowls thinking if it’s not good each person gets to eat just two spoons full to gulp it in with out difficulty. To my surprise every one made sure to take a second helping. The simplest dish that i least had hope over won that day. Food always gives me a run to understand it… It’s Some thing like being confused about the some one special always. One minute it’s like I know in and out of him-(food) confidently and then the next second it’s like is he -(food) telling me the truth -(taste wise)?
Am I being fooled? – (with the taste being bad)
what do I do now??? – (how do I get the taste right)
My love story with food is a never ending story that’s been going on steady for ages now. No complaints as I am loving every moment of this love struck affair with food.

Ingredients	Quantity
Milk	3 cups
Rice flour	1/4 cup
Cornflour	1 teaspoon heaped
Ground almonds	3/4 cup ( soaked in hot water whole for a minute , skin peeled , almonds dried and then ground to a powder with out water )
Salt	a pinch
Sugar	1/4 cup or more to taste
Rose water	1 tablespoon
Rose essence	2 to 3 drops ( optional but I use as the locally available rose water is not of good quality)

Ingredients to garnish

ingredients	Quantity
Pistachios	few skin peeled and chopped
Tinned Cherries	few

Method

Dilute rice flour, corn flour, salt and sugar with 1/4 cup or more of the measured milk with no lumps.
Heat the remaining milk and bring to boil. Lower the flame and Gradually add the dilute rice flour paste, stirring vigorously making sure the mix has no lumps and the mix does not stick to the bottom. Cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
Add the ground almonds and keep stirring to mix well and get a smooth semi thick batter. Finally add the rose water and rose essence (optional) and mix well.
Remove from heat. Pour into a pudding bowl or individual pudding cups. Bring it down to room temperature, the crust will look set by now. Garnish and decorate with tinned cherries and pistachios.
Place in the refrigerator to chill for four hours or overnight. serve chilled.

Katta metta podi kuli paniyaram’s

Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description
I am getting into a habit of serving only home made goodies for any one who drops in for a brunch at home. Good for me as I am learning the art of coming up with new dishes with cupboard friendly ingredients from my pantry with in a limited period of time (it surely does feel like the master chef mystery box challenge) but a very bad news for my cook and help at home. As the minute I start looking into my refrigerator for veggies, fruits, leftovers and a quite panicked walk in my store-room… They get to know that’s it our peace is shattered for the next one hour or more. Initially they would just gaze at me thinking what is this mad lady up to.. Now a days they are so used to it that as I am working on a dish, my cook asks me should I prep to coat the snack or are you going to steam it… My help comes up with how should I chop these veggies for the next dish.. We make a great team and slowly even they have started to enjoy as I do. The best part, they know no dish is supposed to go out of the kitchen with out a picture being taken. Even at times when we are running late to entertain our guests… They both so sweetly switch on all the lights in the kitchen gearing up for a photo shoot and ask “amma, light poothuma.. Ellai off panna va” which means is the light enough or do we have to switch it off. Oops coming to the dish… This dish was also born as such with a time frame to entertain my friend Sheela and her two little kids coming over for tea. Her son just went head over heels with these paniyaram’s and in fact Sheela did ask me to send over the same dish on his birthday a few days back, just to surprise him. I did and I am sure this will be itched with in him for ever to be cherished, shared and forwarded with his friends, cousins, his children and his grand children too..

Ingredients for coriander mint chutney

Ingredients	Quantity
Coconut	1/4 cup
Ginger	a tiny piece ( just a tit bit size)
Coriander leaves with stem	1/4 cup
Mint leaves	8 leaves
Green chillies	4 to 6
Tamarind	a pinch
Salt	to taste
Curry leaves	2
Jaggery	a tiny piece

Method for the coriander mint chutney
Grind all the above ingredients together to a smooth paste of semi thick spreading consistency by adding very little water. Taste and adjust seasoning and set aside.

Sweet chutney

Ingredients	Quantity
dates	8
jaggery	1 table spoon
black salt	1/4 tea spoon
tamarind pulp	2 table spoons
salt	to taste
chilli powder	1 tea spoon
cumin powder	1/2 tea spoon Method 1. Boil all the ingredients together with little water for 8 minutes. 2.Cool and blend to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Ingredients for kuli panniyaram

Ingredients	Quantity
idli batter	2 cups
small onions	1/2 hand chopped
green chillies	1 chopped finely
ginger	1/4 inch piece grated
curry leaves	few chopped
coriander leaves	few chopped
soda - bi - carbonate	a pinch
cumin seeds	1/4 teaspoon
salt	to taste
water	little
oil	4 tablespoons

Method

Mix all the above ingredients together except for oil, to get a semi loose consistency batter. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat a non-stick kuli pariyaram griddle with 1/4 teaspoon oil in each dent on the griddle
When oil is hot, pour 1 1/2 tablespoons full of batter mixture into each dent and cook for 30 seconds.
You will find bubbles on top of the batter in each dent, then turn the kuli pariyarams over with a help of a spoon or a kuli pariyaram stick
Cook again for a minute on medium heat till cooked through. Remove and keep aside.

Other ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Oil	1 tablespoons
Idli powder / gun powder	1 to 1 1/4 cups

How to proceed

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add the coriander mint chutney and the sweet chutney. Mix well and bring to boil and cook until thick and saucy. Taste and adjust seasoning
Add the kuli panniyarams and toss well by moving the pan making sure all the chutney is being soaked by the kuli paniyaram’s evenly all over.
Once no chutney is remaining, sprinkle the idli powder all over and toss well. Lower the flame and roast the kuli paniyaram’s for 5-6 minutes tossing every now and then, making sure to get a crisp golden outer crust with out burning them. Poke tooth picks into each crisp kuli paniyaram’s and serve as a finger food in style.

Notes

At times I make the same by substituting with our regular tomato chutney and white coconut chutney. Following the same method for a savory version.

Cheesy whole stuffed gobi with butter masala

Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour 10 minutes
Serves : 6-8 members

Description
Having to entertain vegetarian guests is always a ride over a rocky road for me as I know very little vegetarian gravies or dishes. With the hype of me being addressed as a great cook and entertainer through food (no self praising please..), I have to push myself to keep up to the demands. This dish was made for a gang of friends that I got to connect through the new age world wide net getting to see each other for the very first time with most of them being vegetarian’s. I always wanted to do a whole cauliflower dish. This time I wanted it to be a whole tandoori cauliflower. Prepped and did so but last minute, I was short of any veggie or panner to be added to a butter gravy. The whole grilled cauliflower was sitting right next to the gravy in the kitchen counter. My brain sparked with an idea and I just placed the whole cauliflower tandoor over the gravy and there was the dish that happened with in a fraction of a second in my mind. This dish was vanished with five star rating from all. I had to pat myself for this genius idea (self praising again… Please stop it) so my two individual dishes got attracted to each other, fell in love and got married finally…giving way for all of us to relish their sweet little love story too.

Cheesy stuffed Whole gobi tandoori with butter masala

Step -1

Ingredients for the cauliflower tandoori

Ingredients	Quantity
Whole Cauliflower	1 medium size
Chaat masala powder	1/2 teaspoon
Cream	1 teaspoon
Garlic paste	1/2 teaspoon
Ginger paste	1/2 teaspoon
Lemon juice	2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder	1 teaspoon or to taste
Salt	to taste
Cumin powder	1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder	1/2 teaspoon
Oil	1/ 4 teaspoon
Hung curd	1/2 cup
Red food color	little ( optional)

Method for the cauliflower

Clean the whole cauliflower by removing the side stalks, leaves and the stem to a level that the cauliflower remains whole and when place on a plate stands straight with out tilting over to the sides.
Drop the whole cleaned cauliflower into a bowl of boiling water (not over the flame) with salt. Let it remain for ten minutes, helping worms and other impurities come out. Remove and wash well. Cool completely and wipe with a cloth to remove excess water and dampness.
Grind all the ingredients mentioned above except for the cauliflower to a smooth paste. Check seasoning. Apply and rub all over the whole cauliflower and marinade for four hours in the refrigerator.
Pre heat oven to 180 degree Celsius for ten minutes. Place the marinated cauliflower over a baking tray lined with foil paper that’s greased with oil. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a nice crisp crust is formed. Remove and set aside.

Step -2

Ingredients for stuffing

Ingredients	Quantity
Panner	250 grams crumbled
Cashew nuts	2 tablespoons chopped
Raisins	1 tablespoon
Poppy seeds (khus - khus)	2 tablespoons
Grated cheese	2 tablespoons
Green chillies	2 chopped
Salt	to taste
Mozzarella + Parmesan cheese grated	1/2 cup

Method

Mix all the above ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Turn the roasted whole cauliflower up side down. Stuff it with the planner filling tightly in between the stalks of stem. Top with half the grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Grill for 5 to 8 minutes in a pre heated oven or microwave for 1 minute in the microwave to melt.
Remove and cool completely. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the top of the cauliflower and grill again for 5-8 minutes or microwave for a minute until the cheese melts. Keep aside.

Step -3

Ingredients for the butter gravy

Ingredients	Quantity
cashew nut	50 grams
melon seeds	50 grams (Soak together in warm water for 30 minutes and make fine paste.)
Finely chopped onions	1/2 kg
Oil	1/ 4 cup
Ginger garlic paste	2 tablespoons
Tomato paste	1/4 kg ( blanch the tomato ,remove the skin and mark it into paste. )
cardamom	3
cloves	3
cinnamon	1/2 inch stick
Chilli powder	1 tablespoon
Coriander powder	1 tablespoon
Cumin powder	1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder	1/4 teaspoon
Tomato sauce	2 teaspoon
Butter	2 tablespoons or less
Cream	1/4 cup
Dry fenugreek or kasuri methi	1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder	1/4 teaspoon
Cardamon powder	1/4 teaspoon
Red colour	1/4 teaspoon

Method
In a non stick pan add oil, cardamom, cloves & cinnamon. sauté for a minute. add chopped onions, sauté till golden brown.
Add ginger garlic paste, sauté till the raw smell goes then add tomato paste, cook in slow flame and keep stirring to avoid burning, (this step is very important). Add cashew & melon paste, chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, cardamom powder and tomato sauce. Mix well and sauté until oil floats on top. Add water to get the desired gravy consistency and boil with butter. Sprinkle dry fenugreek, red colour and garam masala powder. cook for another two minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove from heat.

Step -4

How to assemble and serve

Pour the butter gravy on to a flare shallow large plate. Drizzle cream all over.
Place the cheesy stuffed grilled whole cauliflower in the center of the butter gravy.
Garnish with coriander greens and serve hot with rotis or pulao’s.

Kashmiri noon chai

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 45-50 minutes
Serves : 2-3 members

Description
Kashmir…. I always remember seeing this place in my parents honeymoon pictures… Resulting with me being born there after ….every third person there did mention saying I look like a Kashmiri which made me blush for sure as to me kashimiris are the best looking people on earth. Those days of watching doordharshan programs as a kid. I remember watching a documentary where they showed how a meat based dish was made in Kashmir with a white thin butter milk based gravy but the name of the dish didn’t register in my mind. I got to by heart the name just recently. All I knew about Kashmiri cuisine was just that and later the rogan josh and dum aloo. It was a dream come true to visit Kashmir for me. On one tedious day while traveling to gulmargh from Sri nagar we stopped for tea. Me not being a tea person just was wondering around the place. My son-in-law enquire if they serve noon chai. I was like.. What’s that? He explained to me saying its a salty tea that’s made only in Kashmir and Ladakh. The foodie in me just wanted to give a try and I ordered one too. The first sip I took.. Just hit the right spot and was very much to my liking, like a light watery soup. From then on the entire week I drank only noon chai in Kashmir where ever I went getting me addicted to it with each place having its own version with slight changes of the same chai. The Kashmiri guide did mention saying that noon chai helps to give a glow to the skin. Do I need any more reasons not to get addicted to this noon chai!!
Made sure to get the chai dust and here I am in the opposite tip of Kashmir, near kanyakumari sipping away noon chai soothing my soul every now and then like the Kashmiris do…

Indgredients	Quantity
Green tea leaves	2 tablespoons (authentically a special tea leaf is used but green tea is close to it as well)
Cardamom	5 pods crushed
Salt	1 teaspoon
Soda salt	1 teaspoon
Cinnamon	1 inch stick
Star anise	1
Milk	2 cups
Sugar	1 tablespoons
Pistachios	5 peeled and chopped
Almonds	2 peeled and chopped
Water	2 cups

Method

Heat 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Add cardamom, cinnamon and star anise. Boil for two minutes.
Add the green tea leaves, salt, sugar and soda salt. (be careful while adding the Soda salt as the water arises and over flows out of the pot).
Boil in low flame for 30-40 minutes.
Add milk and bring to boil. Strain. Serve hot with chopped nuts.

Notes

I always follow the recipe up to the third point in large amounts. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for a month or so. When needed I add milk and boil. This way it’s more easy.

Luqaimat- Arabic sweet dumplings

Preparation time : 5 minutes + 1 hour and 15 minutes for the batter to double

Cooking time : 3-4 minutes for each batch deep fried

Serves : 6-8 members

Description

On my return from a holiday in Dubai, hubby dear’s niece sabeena gifted me a huge bag full of edible goodies. Back home went through the entire lot of goodies and found every thing to be so useful and new to me. The ready mix Arabic dumpling box was a boon which helped me to entertain guests for brunch and during the holy month of Ramadan to break out fast. The dumpling ready mix box lasted for three servings.. There after when the dumplings were on demand at home I felt lost thinking who do I ask for the next batch from Dubai letting go off as always. Recently I came across a recipe in the name of luqaimat in a foodie group with an image looking similar to the dumplings I made. Googled to find out it’s the same dumplings with its authentic name being luqaimat. Took note of two easy recipes and tried both and had to settled down with combining both the recipe’s that was exactly like my previous luqaimat’s light, airy, soft centres with a crisp exterior. I thank sabeena for the edible gifts that let me learn another new recipe for keeps and to share with you all.

Ingredients	Quantity
Flour / maida	3 1/2 cups
Instant Yeast	1 1/4 teaspoon
Salt	1/8 teaspoon
Sugar	1 teaspoon
Warm water	2 1/2 cups
Oil	to deep fry

Ingredients to toss

Ingredients	Quantity
Honey	to taste
White sesame seeds	to sprinkle

Method

Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar together.
Gradually add the luck warm water to the flour mix making sure no lumps are formed to get a sticky batter
Cover the batter with a wet damp cloth and let it double in size for 1 hour to 1 hours-15 minutes.beat the batter with hands four times in a gap of 15 minutes each in the first hour of doubling.
Heat oil to deep fry. Drop a teaspoon of batter to get small balls (I preferred to use my hands to drop balls). They pop up and float on the top. Reduce the flame and fry to a light golden color and crisp for about 3-4 minutes in total for each batch. Drain.
Drizzle with honey when the luqaimat balls are hot. Toss well and sprinkle white sesame seeds on top and serve immediately.

Notes

Always deep fry the luqaimat dumplings just before serving and toss over honey when the dumplings are hot.
The authentic way to toss the luqaimat dumplings is with a syrup made with sugar, water, orange blossom water, rose water and honey. I prefer just honey (when pressed for time which is the case always) as its easy and adds a sticky texture and good taste.
I have used instant yeast here, in case you are using dry yeast. Add sugar and 1/4 cup luck warm water to the yeast and dissolve. Set aside to foam and rise. Then mix with the flour and remaining luck warm water.