Daily Archives: March 2, 2017

Rose pudding

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 10 minutes + 6 to 8 hours of setting in the refrigerator.
Serves : 6 members

Description

My stress booster is sure cooking and having fun. Times when I feel really frustrated with things around. I just walk strait to the kitchen and start cooking some thing depending on my mood on that particular day. Every one knows this habit of mine and they just let be alone with out disturbing. On one such day, I walk into the kitchen to find just milk alone. I pair it with sugar, rose water, gulkand and china grass. It looks to cliche with no glamour at all. I peep out of my window to see a few roses bloomed in the garden. I add the petals to bring in a eye popping colour. Pour it into silicon moulds and place in the refrigerator to set. De – moulded the rose pudding and wolla… there was my new stress booster invention pudding that was made to cheer my soul. Cook yourself happy is my magic mantra . In fact, my kids make fun of me asking ” mom, when will you get stressed so that we can have some good food.”

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Milk	1/2 litter
Saffron	1 pinch
Gulkand	2 tablespoons
Sugar	4 tablespoons or to taste
Rose petals	1 tablespoon chopped + few to garnish
Honey	2 tablespoons
Rose water	1 teaspoon
China grass / agar agar	10 grams
Oil	1 teaspoon to grease
Almond flakes	few to garnish

Method

Soak the china grass with 1 cup water for ten minutes.
Boil milk with sugar. Remove from heat and add soaked china grass. Mix well over heat, until the China grass dissolves. Add gulkand, honey and saffron into the milk and mix well.
Top with chopped rose petals and rose water. Mix well. Pour into greased pudding bowls. Place in the refrigerator for eight hour or more to set.
Transfer the set pudding into a plate by tilting it over a plate. Sprinkle rose petals and almond flakes. serve chilled.

Heart pizza

Preparation time : 1 hour
Cooking time : 15 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description

My obsession with hearts goes way back to when I was a kid. I remember hair bands were so much in fashion in the early eighty’s. We used to get it with flowers, beads, in all materials and colours too. My senior in school masume from Iran had a hair band in metal which had tiny hearts engraved in them. Her class boy’s forcefully took it from her and counted how many hearts were there in the hair band and nick named her 56 hearts there after. That was when I got to know what a heart shape was and why and how it refers to love. No idea where masume is now or her 56 hearts metal hair band but the story remains fresh with in me. As I was making these heart shaped pizza’s, this story was running in my mind with me smiling. My help at home asks me ” amma enna thaniya sirikireengga ” which means, why are you laughing on our own. I didn’t want to let her know this story as I know she will think.. I am the silliest soul on earth to have such things in mind decades later too. This pizza was an instant hit at home like masume’s 56 heart’s metal hair band and her nick name.

Ingredients for the dough

Ingredients	Quantity
Yeast	1 tablespoon ( good quality must for good results )
Oil	1/4 cup
Maida	1 1/2 cup
Warm water	1 tablespoon
Salt	1/2 teaspoon
Egg	1
Sugar	30 grams
Milk	1/4 cup

Method

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1/4 teaspoon sugar and 1/4 teaspoon maida. Keep covered with a wet cloth for 10 minutes to ferment.
Beat egg, oil, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Pour milk at boiling point to the bowl (of egg, oil, sugar and salt ) and mix well with a wooden spoon till sugar dissolves.
Seive maida. Add maida in small quantities to the milk egg mixture along with fermented yeast mix and knead to a smooth dough.
Don’t have to add all the maida, when the dough is soft, stop adding maida. Knead well. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with a wet cloth and set aside for proving for 30 -40 minutes.
Divide the dough into equal apple size portions. Shape each piece into a heart shape about 1/2 inch thick.
Keep aside for another 5 minutes and then bake till light brown at 200 degree Celsius. Take out. Cool to room temperature.
Spread the filling and bake for another 5 – 10 minutes until cheese melts.

Sauce and Filling Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Tomato	1/2 kg ( blanched , peeled and blended )
Capsicum	2 chopped , ( green 1, red 1 )
Onion	2 chopped
Egg	1
Celery	2 stalks chopped
Spring onion	2 chopped
Baby corn	1/4 cup cut into thin circles
Olives	1 tablespoon sliced
Garlic	8 flakes ground
Ginger	1 inch piece ground
Chilli powder	1 teaspoon
Sugar	1 teaspoon
Oregano	2 teaspoons
Cheese grated	100 grams
Butter	1 teaspoon
Tomato sauce	1 tablespoon
Sausage , chicken , mutton or paneer	1 cup shredded ( optional )
Tomato purée	1/4 cup
Chilli flakes	to taste
Egg white	1 seasoned with salt and pepper to taste and beaten
Olive oil	2 tablespoon

Method

Heat olive oil add onion and fry for a minute, top with ginger and garlic paste. Once crisp add capsicum, celery, spring onion, salt, oregano and baby corn and sauté for a minute. Remove from flame and set aside.
Heat the blended tomato , chilli powder, sugar, salt and tomato purée together to get a thick sauce. Add tomato sauce and cool down completely to to room temperature. Add a beaten egg and mix well. Taste and adjust. Spread this sauce over the heart pizza base.
Sprinkle with 3/4 of the cheese, spread the onion, capsicum mixture over. Top with sliced olives and sausages, mutton, chicken or paneer of your choice.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over. Dot with butter and brush with egg white and bake in a preheated oven for 5 – 6 minutes. When cheese melts, remove, cut into wedges and serve hot garnished with oregano and chilli flakes.

Crab fried rice

Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 30 minutes
Serves : 3 members

Description

Fried rice in any form is my all time favourite. This version, I had when on a holiday in Bangkok. Every road, every street, every place in Bangkok is filled with food wanders. The best part, the food is so tasty no matter where it is made. I had this at a road side street food stall. I wanted a prawn fried rice ( for religious reasons of wanting to eat halal ) but as it got over just then, had to opt for crab fried rice being the only option left. The dish was made right in front of my eyes in a hot wide wok. I was saving the recipe in my mind as it was done. I had to ask for one ingredient alone which was fish sauce as she used it from a bowl. The fried rice was perfectly done with the crunch of vegetables, mildly flavoured with sauces and the bite of crab flesh lends a sweet element to the dish. Back home tried it out on a day with nothing to do. My mind travels back to the Bangkok holiday and this crab fried rice pops up first. I gear up and give a try and the taste is bang on except for missing the busy buzzing streets of Bangkok and the large hot wide wok. I realised, the best gifts in the world are not in material objects one can buy but in the memories we make through food, culture and people.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Basmati rice	1 cup
Onion	1
Spring onion	1 bunch
Oil	100 ml
Carrot	100 gm chopped
French beans	50 gm chopped
Celery	2 stalks chopped
Lime	1
Capsicum ( red , green and yellow)	1/4 piece of each chopped
Sweet corn kernels	1 table spoon
Garlic	1/2 table spoon minced
Light soya sauce	1 tea spoon
Fish sauce	1/4 teaspoon ( optional )
ajinomoto	1/2 tea spoon
white pepper	to taste
salt	to taste
egg	2
Cooked crab flesh	1 cup ( pressure cook with white pepper and salt to taste and remove flesh)

Method

Wash and soak rice for 10 minutes. Cook in plenty of boiling water adding salt to taste and 1/2 teaspoon lime juice. Stir and cook through without breaking the rice. Strain. Keep aside for 5 minutes. Then spread onto a flat tray.
Heat 1/2 of oil and vegetables and stir fry on high flame for 3 minutes. Remove when vegetables are 1/2 cooked. Keep aside.
Heat the remaining oil add garlic and fry to light brown. Top with the crab flesh and fry for a minute. Then add the rice. Mix gently adding the vegetables, salt to taste, white pepper to taste, ajinomoto, fish sauce and soya sauce.
Gently stir making sure not to break the rice. Mix in scrambled eggs. Mix well. Taste and adjust. Serve hot with any Vinegar and green chillies chopped.