Gooey Chocolate Cookie and Merry Christmas

This is the recipe of food network chef Paula Deen and I followed the exact way it says and this one is really wonderful dessert. My boy is not a frosting lover but he loves chocolate cake and this one is for him the way he likes the chocolate cake and to add more, its gooey which also he likes. When I first said just the name of the recipe to him, he was full of excitement and he could not wait and he wanted me to make it immediately. The recipe goes like we got mix all the ingredients and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hrs for make it little harder and in that 3 hrs my boy would have opened the fridge and checked on the dough for nearly 20 times, telling me its harden enough to bake …hmmm he loves chocolate soo much. For me nothing can make me happier than watching my kids enjoying the food what I prepare and I got that happiness in this recipe. Just two days it’s all finished not a single speck is left and now he wants more and started asking me to bake again.

Ingredients
Chocolate cake mix – 1 packet (use any kind of chocolate cake)
Cream Cheese – 1 packet / 8 oz
Butter – 1 stick (room temperature)
Vanilla essence – 1tsp
Egg – 1
Powdered sugar – 1 cup

Method
Mix cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl using a hand mixer or power mixer.
Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix.
Add the whole packet of chocolate cake mix and mix and this will hard dough and don’t add any of water or milk to it.
Refrigerate this mixture for 2 to 3 hrs.
Pre-heat oven to 350*F
Once the dough is harden enough, roll them to small balls and coat them with the powdered sugar and place in the cookie sheet and bake them for 10 mins in the oven.
That’s it the tasty and yummy gooey chocolate cookie is ready. It will be harder outside and gooey inside. Enjoy!!

                                       Happy Holiday to all !!!

Priya from http://recipes-priya.blogspot.com/ has passed on this award to me and I would like to share this with all my fellow bloggers, please everyone collect it.

Spicy Orange Chicken

Everyone who lives in America should be familiar with this Chinese-American orange chicken commonly found at Chinese fast food restaurants. What makes this dish so special is the combination of orange flavor and the sweetness. I choose to make this orange chicken in my kitchen for its flavor but I made it more spicy with little sweetness  and this is the Indo-Chinese-American version  of orange chicken. For the orange flavor I replaced orange peel (zest) for orange juice just for no reason and I felt juice is better than zest and if you wish, you could very well use the orange peel and remember that you have to soak the zest in water for half an hour before using it. The both spiciness and sweetness made this dish really awesome so please don’t consider adding sugar or brown sugar as optional, I would say it is the secret ingredient which adds more flavor and taste to the dish.

Ingredient
For marinating
Boneless Chicken – 1lb
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Soy sauce – 1tsp
Vinegar – 1tsp
Cornstarch – 1 tsp
Salt and pepper to taste

Other Ingredients
Carrot and Bell pepper – 1 cup
Onion – ½ of one chopped
Ginger Chopped – 1 tsp
Garlic Chopped – 2tsp
Orange juice – 1/3 Cup
Ketchup – 1tsp
Chili Garlic sauce – 2 tsp (add according to your taste)
Brown Sugar to taste
Soy Sauce – 2 tsp
Vinegar – 1tsp
Cornstarch – 1tsp mix with water
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Oil to deep fry the chicken

Method
Marinate the chicken with the ingredients under 'for marinating' and keep refrigerated for minimum 1 hr and deep fry in oil and transfer to the kitchen towel to drain the excess oil.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan or wok and garlic and ginger and fry till aromatic and add onion and all the veggies and fry for few mins and add the orange juice with little water and add the chili garlic sauce and soy sauce and salt and pepper and cook for 5 mins. Add the brown sugar and ketchup and mix and add the chicken pieces and cook if you want the gravy to be thick add the cornstarch water or just to your desired consistency. Enjoy with white rice or fried rice.

Note: Increase or decrease the amount brown sugar depending on the sweetness you need.

Keema Paratha

Oh my goodness!!! All these days I never knew that the keema paratha would taste so delicious. I have heard of people making keema paratha but I didn’t show any interest in it because as I said earlier lamb or goat meat is not my family’s favorite so never took a chance to try before and I don’t know how I ended up doing it and really tasted excellent and I regret now for not trying all these days. I usually make curry with keema for chapatti and as usual I planned to prepare that but all of a sudden I just thought why not stuff this time and still had a fear whether the stuffing is ooze out as keema is not a very smooth compared to potato stuffing but some how I gave a try and really came out good like without oozing out. I am posting the way I prepared the keema stuffing but you can also prepare the keema the way you like but only thing you should remember is it should be completely dry or else the stuffing’s would make the dough too soggy and it would tear while rolling and all the stuffing’s will ooze out and that would be a total messy. Here is the recipe for keema paratha.

Ingredients
Keema/minced meat – 1 lb
Onion – 1 finely chopped
Tomato – 1 finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Chapatti dough

Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and onion and sauté till tender and add the tomato and fry for few mins and add the ginger garlic paste and fry and add the minced meat and mix well and add the all the dry powders and add little water and close and cooked until its done and still cook with open lid until its completely dry and note minced meat can cook fast.
Take a small size dough and roll to a small round and place a table spoon full of keema in the middle and bring all the ends together and close and roll with care to a paratha and cook in a heated griddle on both side with little oil or ghee. This would taste great by itself or eat with curd and enjoy!!

Crispy Oven fried Chicken

Every one like crispy and fried chicken but this crispy oven fried chicken is delicious and much healthier version than the traditional deep-fried one. This heart healthy fried chicken is quite easy to prepare and tastes better and kids would love to eat and we can too eat as many with guilt free. This dish takes absolutely no oil other than the non-stick cooking spray I sprayed over the chicken. Since this is the healthier version I even removed the skin, which contains more fat, and still it will be crispy and fabulous. You can use any part of the chicken you like and I used chicken drumstick, that’s my boy’s favorite. This chicken would be crispy outside and juicy inside.

Ingredients
Chicken drumstick – 4
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Chili powder – 1 and 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Honey – 1 tsp
Panko Japanese style breadcrumbs – 1 cup
Egg – 1
All purpose flour – 2 tsp
Parmesan cheese – 2 tsp (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Non-stick cooking spray

Method
Remove the skin from the chicken and soak in a bowl of water adding ½ tsp of chili powder, salt and lemon juice and refrigerate for at least minimum 3 hrs.
Preheat oven to 350*F
In a bowl beat egg and mix with it ginger garlic paste, ½ tsp chili powder, flour, honey and salt.
In a plate mix the panko breadcrumbs with Parmesan cheese and ½ tsp of chili powder.
Drop the chicken in the egg mix and coat well and dip in the breadcrumbs and evenly coat the chicken with it and place in a cookie sheet after spraying the non-stick spray.
Repeat this for all the chicken pieces and spray the cooking spray on the chicken and cook in the oven for 40 mins. Enjoy the healthier crispy oven fired chicken.

Fun with Poori

I know what you are thinking, what kind of fun I would have had with poori, you are right I didn’t have any fun it was my kids you had fun with poori the reason was the shapes of the poori. My boy likes different kinds of shapes even for dosa, usually he prefers Sponge bob and Patrick shape (two characters from Sponge bob cartoon) and that one I never found any difficult in doing but he asks for different shape in poori too, its quite not easy to make but some how I do it but not to perfection and my boy starts complaining and its always tough for me whenever I make poori. And now he eats poori with lots of fun and happy for me too and this happened after I bought the cookie cutter and using it for making different shapes with poori and my kids having lots of fun while eating poori. So if you have kids who likes or prefer eating like that and even if you don’t have any intension of making cookie its worth buying them and you can see to yourself how happy they would be to eat a dinosaur or any shape in that matter. In the picture you can see the few shapes I made or I was asked to make with the cookie cutter.

Stuffed Brinjal Curry

This is an Andra's popular dish and its called "Gutti Vankaya Currry" and every one seems have their own version for this recipe. Each of my friends use different ingredients for the same recipe, I dunno which of it is the traditional, any way what every one do in common is grind all the ingredients and stuff to the brinjal..ha ha. I follow the way we used to cook this dish for many years at home and I am sticking to it and every one loves that way, may be some day I might also try my other friend’s version too. Whenever I see the small brinjal in the Indian store, I make sure to get as I love this stuffed brinjal a lot, for past one month I couldn’t go to Indian store, my hubby who goes never brings this small brinjal, he gets only the big one and this time I was very specific to get the small one and as he did, here I am with the recipe of my favorite dish.

Ingredients

Small Brinjal - 8

Sesame Seeds - 2 tsp

Onion - half of one full onion , chopped

Tomato - 1 medium chopped

Cinnamon - 1/2" stick

Garlic - 4 cloves

Coconut - 2tsp

Whole red chili - 3

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Tamarind Paste - 3/4 tsp ( I used the tamarind concentrate)

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 5

Oil - 3 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Dry roast the sesame seeds until it turn golden color and set aside. Fry onion, garlic, red chili, cinnamon, tomato and coconut in a pan with 1tsp of oil until onion and tomato become soft. Grind this along with sesame seeds, and other ingredients other than oil to a smooth paste.

Cut the stem of the all the brinjal and retain the crown, make a '+' cut on the other end of brinjal and dont make it into two halves just a slit is fine. Stuff the grinded masala into the each brinjals.

Heat oil in a skillet and place the brinjal in the skillet and cook until you see wrinkles on them. Now pour the remaining masalas and cook covered until the gravy thickens. Serve hot with rice and Enjoy!!!!

Elephant Yam/Senai kizhangu Vada

Elephant yam or senai kizhangu or suran in hindi is one great veggie which tastes awesome but yam just reminds me of the strong itching they causes after cutting them and all these days I never had courage to cook them in my kitchen, but applying the coconut oil in hands would avoid the itchiness still I couldn’t and at last somehow I gathered some courage and cooked it but I didn’t apply oil, I used latex glove and it was far better than oil and it worked wonderfully , no itch at all, thank god.
Making vada using yam is the best recipe I could think of with yam, it is so tasty and whoever tastes this would easily mistake them to a lamb keema vada and is its true is tastes exactly like that. Usually I have seen people making curry or porial with yam/suran and I think this recipe would be different and interesting to you all.
Always remember to take all kind of precaution before chopping to avoid the itchiness, it would be great if you get frozen yam at your Indian store, better use that and you can avoid the itchiness I guess, never used one. Here is the recipe for elephant yam vada,

Ingredients
Elephant Yam Grated – 2 Cups (wear glove or rub coconut oil in hands)
Roasted gram – ¼ Cup
Green chilies – 3
Ginger – ½”
Garlic – 5 cloves
Onion – half of one chopped
Cloves – 3
Cinnamon – ½”
Coconut – 2 tsp
Fennel seed – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Cilantro
Breadcrumbs – 3 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method
Grind all the ingredients other than elephant yam and breadcrumbs to a coarse paste and mix with the grated yam and note that if your yam is little watery after grating, just squeeze out the water and mix with the grinded paste and if is still not thick enough or when you fry and if it is too oily add the breadcrumbs and fry it, that also adds more crispiness to vada. Make small flat round with it and deep fry in oil until it is brown on both side and transfer to the kitchen paper to drain the excess oil. Enjoy it!!!

Streusel Topped Pumpkin pie

I made this pumpkin pie for our thanksgiving feast, first of all I had no intension of celebrating thanksgiving but my son said we should have a special meal on thanksgiving day but I tried to convince him that its not our tradition but he replied once we are here in US, we got to follow their tradition too and I had nothing to say rather than agreeing with him and that’s how I ended up making a special feast on thanksgiving day but I refused to make turkey and substituted with smaller bird chicken and made it the Indian tandoor way and I also made mashed potato, gravy, baked an Italian bun and steam cooked plain sweet peas and one food that really stood out is the pumpkin pie.
This the best pumpkin pie I have ever tasted (I haven’t tasted any before), I made this for the first time and I got the recipe from the ehow.com website and once again I say baking is always easy and comes out good if follow the exact measurement and it that case this recipe was a great success. My hubby loved it and he almost licked his spoon. Streusel is a kind of crumb topping made with some nuts that goes on top of the pumpkin pie, which gives a wonderful twist to the taste.

Ingredients
Pumpkin Puree – 1 can
Sweetened condensed milk – 1 can
Pie Crust – 1
Egg – 2
Ground Cinnamon – 1 tsp
Ground Nutmeg – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp

For streusel topping
Brown Sugar – ¼ Cup
All purpose flour – 2 tsp
Walnut or pecan – ½ Cup chopped
Butter – 2 tbsp
Ground Cinnamon – 1tsp

Method
Pre-heat Oven to 425*F
Separate yolk and white.
In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs yolk, spices, and salt and blend well.
In a separate bowl, beat well the egg white until you get a stiff peak and fold the egg white into the pumpkin mixture. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and place the crust on the cookie pan and bake in the oven for 15 mins.
For streusel topping, combine brown sugar, flour, walnut or pecan, cinnamon and butter, note that butter should be used directly from fridge not melted, use your hands to mash the butter and mix with all ingredients.
After pie is baked for 15 mins, reduce the oven temp to 350*F .
Top the pie with the streusel and bake in the oven again for 40 mins.
Cool for 1 hour and refrigerate for 3 hours before serving, serve with whipped cream.

Kanchipuram Idli

I have no idea why it is called by this name, might be popular in kanchipuram? I know  kanchipuram is only famous for temples and silk saree but idli?? I really don't know. The only time I had this idli is at my sisters place and I never ever got a chance to have after that and this idli is totally different from the regular one, first by its shape they use a different mould for that and to my surprise my sister has got that and the second is little spice like pepper and cumin is added to the batter.
One day just a thought of this idli flashed my mind and remembered my sister and immediately I got the recipe from her and here I am posting the recipe of this idli, which I relished. I was told this idli stays good for couple of days and best food during traveling. Coconut chutney is the best combo for this but my boy doesn’t like that so I made tomato chutney and it was really awesome, I will soon post the recipe for tomato chutney. Now here is the recipe for kanchipuram idli…

Ingredients
Raw rice – 1 Cup
Idli Rice – 1 Cup
Urad dhal – 1 cup
Curd /Yogurt – ½ Cup
Black Pepper – 1 tsp
Cumin Seed/Jeera – 1tsp
Ginger – 1”
Curry leaves – 4
Salt to taste

Method
Soak rice and urad dhal separately for 3 hours and grind them separately and note that rice need not be too smooth, little coarse is good for this recipe and add salt and mix them and set to ferment for 8 hrs.
When you are ready to make idli, grind together the pepper, cumin, ginger, curry leaves and add to the idli batter along with the curd and mix well and make like the regular idli and enjoy with the chutney of your choice.

Easy ways to cure acidity

I came across this article at timesofindia website and it was quite intersting and useful one for me so I thought why not share this with you all as everyone at some point or other might have suffered from this problem and it might be useful to you all and if you havn't read it already here it is .... 

Acidity occurs when there is excess secretion of acids in the gastric glands of the stomach. When the secretion is more than usual, we feel, what is commonly known as heartburn, which is normally triggered off by consumption of spicy foods. Here are some home remedies to cure acidity...

- Skip the aerated drinks as well as the caffeine
- Have a glass of lukewarm water everyday.
- Include banana, watermelon and cucumber in your daily diet. Watermelon juice is    great for curing acidity.
- Tender Coconut water is known to soothe the system if you suffer from acidity.
- Drink a glass of milk - everyday.
- Have your last meal at least two to three hours before you hit the sack.
- Keeping long intervals between meals is another cause for acidity. Have small but regular meals.
- Try to avoid pickles, spicy chutneys, vinegar, etc.
- Boil some mint leaves in water and have a glass of this after meals.
- Sucking on a piece of clove is another effective remedy.
- Jaggery, lemon, banana, almonds and yogurt are all known to give you instant relief from acidity.
- Excessive smoking and drinking will increase acidity, so cut down.
- Try chewing gum. The saliva generated helps move food through the esophagus, easing symptoms of heartburn.
- Ginger aids in digestion. Either buy powdered ginger in capsule forms or add the herb to your recipes.
- A simple preparation of lemon water with sugar can be sipped on an hour before lunch to reduce uneasiness.
- Have vegetables like drumsticks, beans, pumpkin, cabbage, carrot and spring onions.

Sugar Cookie with icing

Of course, who would say “No” to cookies, such a delicious snack for any age and especially when they are baked at home. Baking the cookies at home is always fun and easy if you know the exact measurement and by using the proper tools and ingredients. While making this sugar cookie I little messed up the measurement and the dough which is suppose to be very smooth turned out very sticky and I had to add more flour to make it up and surprisingly the cookies came out really good. My boy had real fun in adding the sprinklers to the icing on the cookie and I suggest every one should try this recipe.

Ingredients
For Cookie
All Purpose Flour - 2 ½ Cups
Margarine – 1 Cup
Sugar – 1 Cup
Egg – 2
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Cream of tartar – 2 tsp
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp

For Icing
Butter – 4 tbsp
Confectionery Sugar – 1 Cup
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
Milk – 2 tsp
Sprinkler

Method
Oven temperature – 350*F, Baking Time – 8 to 10 mins
In a mixing bowl, beat egg and add sugar and margarine and mix well.
Add flour, baking powder, tartar, salt and vanilla extract and mix well to a soft dough.
Knead the dough on a clean flat surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin to a ¼ inch thick and keep dusting the rolling pin and work surface slightly with flour, if necessary, to prevent sticking and cut to your favorite shape of your choice using cookie cutter and transfer to the baking sheet and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 350* F for 8 to 10 mins in batches.

For Icing
The butter should be at the room temperature before mixing. Combine butter, sugar, milk and vanilla extract, this recipe is very flexible, if you feel its too watery add the flour and if you feel too thick add milk and bring to the consistency that would allow you to  spread  on the cookies and decorate the cookie and put the sprinkler on the top.
Enjoy the delicious cookies.

Chettinad Pepper Chicken

No introduction is needed for chettinad cuisine as it is a widely popular for its well-known spicy taste and you can get thousands of hits when you google for this dish and its always difficult to find the correct authentic way of preparing this chettinad dishes unless someone from that region tells us what the exact recipe is and this dish is one such recipe passed on to me by my friend and very special thanks to her.
Chettinad dishes are incomplete without garlic and pepper and in this dish pepper being the main ingredient, there is no need to mention the fiery taste is what that makes dish more special and simply very delicious. Always use the freshly grounded pepper for this dish to get the original wonderful flavor.

Ingredient
Chicken – 1 lb
Onion - 1 chopped finely
Tomato – 2 medium chopped
Curry Leaves – 10
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Chili Powder – 1 tsp
Pepper Powder – 3 tsp (freshly crushed)
Cumin Powder – 1tsp
Garlic – 3 cloves chopped
Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tsp
Whole garam masala – cloves – 3, cinnamon – 1”, cardamom – 2
Salt to taste
Oil – 4tsp

Method
Heat oil in a pan and add the whole garam masala and when you get the good fragrance from it add the garlic and onion and sauté for few mins and add the ginger garlic paste and mix well and add chopped tomato and fry till the oil separates from it and add the curry leaves and all the dry masalas and add the chicken and add some water and close and cook for 10 mins, stirring in between and if needed splash little water to avoid burning. When removing from stove, add a addition half tsp of pepper powder and mix and add the chopped cilantro. This dish goes very well with sambar rice, or plain curd rice and enjoy!!!

Chicken Sandwich - A Hubby Way

Though I have passion for cooking and I strongly believe that we can share the love of life through cooking as it feeds the soul, both who cooks and also who eats. But sometime I feel bored and frustrated of the same cooking which I love to do for all day and I want someone to cook for me and I eat. If I was in India I can go around to relatives house or just say at mothers house for 10 days and I get to sit and do only eating, I feel it would be a kind of refreshment but unfortunately or fortunately I am living here in US that makes me eligible to cook for all 365 days. Sometimes my hubby understands my feelings and he insists on cooking for me, though he doesn't know how to cook but his intension is what I appreciate and this chicken sandwich is one such dish he prepared for me and this was a excellent chicken sandwich I would have tasted. He got this recipe from some cook book and it was very tasty and I wish he cooks more often like this me...ha ha....I know next time he would purposely gonna spoil it....

Ingredinets
Boneless Chicken Breast halves - 2
All Purpose Flour - 3 tbsp
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mushroom Chopped - 1/2 Cup
French Onion Soup - 1 tin
Sandwich Bun - 2
Cheese Singles - 2
Garlic Chopped - 1tsp
Olive Oil - 3 tsp


Method
Mix salt and pepper to the flour and coat the chicken with the flour on both the side and fry in a pan with 2 tsp of oil until its cooked and nice brown on both sides and set aside.
In the same pan, add garlic and fry for few secs and add chopped mushroom and cook until its soft and add the french onion soup and allow to boil.
Now add the cooked chicken and make sure chicken is well coated with the soup.
Roast the bun in a skillet or in oven until its crisp.
Place the cheese slice on the bun and place the chicken on it and top it with mushroom and chose the bun and enjoy the wonderful sandwich.

Mooli / Radish paratha

Stuffed paratha always reminds me of Bangalore, there are plenty of small paratha stalls in Bangalore where they serve different varieties of  stuffed parathas. Me and my sister- n-law  make sure to go on all friday evenings to one such paratha stall and eat  all our favorite parathas, actually the paratha size is not too big and we can easily eat 3 to 4 parathas. Of all the stuffed paratha, mooli is my second favorite to aloo paratha. I get tempted when ever I the see the mooli paratha in a restaurant menu. Here in US I don't get to eat much of mooli paratha in the restaurant so I end up making this dish myself at home. Making perfect round paratha without the stuffing oozing out is an art. You can't make it perfect for the first time but after many practice you can master this art. I am still learning this art. Here is the recipe of this mooli paratha.

Ingredients

For Stuffing

Mooli/Radish - 1 big
Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro - 2 tsp chopped
Salt to taste
For Dough
Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Water - 1 cup
Oil for making the mooli paratha

Method
Sieve the wheat flour and salt. Add water and knead to soft dough. Cover and keep aside. Peel and grate the radish and squeeze out all the water.
Heat the pan and fry the radish for some time and add the ingredients and fry for sometime until the raw flavour is gone.
Take a lemon sized dough and roll to a small round say 4 inch in diameter and place 2 to 3 teaspoon of fillings in the center and cover and seal the ends and roll again gently to a thick round paratha.
In a hot griddle cook the paratha on both side until golden brown using little oil on both sides. Serve hot with tomato fry or just yogurt and pickle. Refer my earlier posting for tomato fry recipe.

Lemon Soufflé

Soufflé is a light and fluffy French cake made basically with combining egg yolk and beaten egg whites with other ingredients.
I can't believe I making a dish from a food network channel, usually I think they make only fancy foods, which is very far from my reach, but this one I felt very interesting and quite easy for a amateur baker like me and not to my surprise this dish also came out really good. I used lemon juice and lemon zest (grated lemon skin) hoping it would give a nice fresh taste and it did actually but only disappointment is that my boy didn’t like the lemon flavor and said its very lemony, promised him will do chocolate version next time.

Ingredients
Freshly squeezed Lemon juice – ¼ Cup
Lemon Zest – 1 tsp (Grated outer lemon skin)
Eggs – 2 (Separated)
Milk – 2/3 Cup
Flour – ¼ Cup
Sugar – 2/3 Cup
Salt – ¼ tsp
For Baking You’ll Need
Ramekin or Soufflé bowl or I used small cake pan - 3 or 4
Big rectangular Cake pan just in a size to fit the small cake pans

Method

•  Pre-heat oven to 350*F. Boil 3 Cups of water.
•  Separate egg yolk from egg white and make sure not even a single drop of yolk falls in the white, if  so  repeat the process again.
•  Combine egg yolk, milk, juice, zest, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the flour and mix well.
•  In a separate bowl, beat the egg white until you get a stiff peak, better to use a power mixer.
•  Add the egg white to the yolk mixer and fold slowly, don’t mix it as it would loose all the aeration in the white.
•  Butter the soufflé bowl and add the sugar and coat evenly by rotating the bowl slowly and repeat this for all the bowls.
•  Pour the mixture evenly on all the bowls and this is not gonna raise.
•  Fill half way of the big cake pan with hot water and place the soufflé bowl in the water.
•  Bake for 30 mins or until the top turns light golden brown.
•  When done, allow to cool down and gently invert into a plate and enjoy..

 

Mint Flavored Delicious Fish Fry

Fish fry is a very popular dish all over India, especially in Kerala, a beautiful state famous for its backwater and lots of coconut trees and not to forget Kerala is one of the a great place for honeymoon.
I still remember a trip to a dam(forgot the name) from my school in Tamilnadu where you get to see people fry and sell the freshly caught fish everywhere neat the dam and you get nice fish fry smell(feel sorry for who hates fish), the one which you can’t avoid but I didn’t get a chance to eat one that time, later when we went to Okanakal dam with my family, I got a chance to eat it and it tasted good.
This fish fry is different to the usual one, I used mint and cilantro and it added more fragrance to the fish and it tastes really good. Looking at the picture don’t conclude I burned my fish, its just the bright green color looks like burned, sorry about that.

Ingredients
Tilapia Fish Fillets – 4
Ginger – ½ “
Garlic – 3
Mint and Cilantro – 1Cup
Curry Leaves - 4
Coconut – 1 tsp
Green Chilies – 3
Lemon Juice – 2 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1tsp
Garam Masala – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry (I used Coconut oil)

Method
Grind all the masalas and marinate the fish in that and set aside for minimum 2 hrs. Shallow fry the fish I until its roasted on both the sides. Enjoy!!

Tomato Dhal

This is very very simple and yet very satisfying dish. Tastes heavenly when eaten with rice and a papad but I always prefer eating with a spicy fish fry ..hmmm ..yummy.This is my girl's favorite food, she likes it with lots of ghee in it and it always happens that she won’t eat the entire plate of hers and I don’t like wasting this yummy dish.. so I end up eating the remaining food …that’s how I put on weight….can't help. Okay lets get to this simple recipe of tomato dhal.

Ingredients
Toor dhal – ½ cup
Tomato – 3 medium chopped
Garlic – 3 chopped
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Seasoning
Mustard – ½ tsp
Cumin / Jeera – ½ tsp
Garlic – 2 chopped
Curry leaves – 6
Whole red chili – 3
Ghee – 2 tsp

Method
Pressure cook dhal with tomato, garlic, turmeric and salt and mash them well.
Season it with mustard, jeera, garlic, red chili and curry leaves in ghee. Serve hot with rice..

Shrimp/Prawn Gravy

When I want to cook only for me and it should be simple and tasty I always prefer cooking shrimp, shrimp is always a magical dish, which cooks fast. This dish takes no more than 30 mins and I have made this dish numerous times. Shrimp is one dish which tastes always great however cooked provided if you like shrimp. This dish is cooked in a wonderful onion and tomato sauce with all the spices. This is a great combination for rice.

Ingredients

Shrimp - 2 cups

Tomato - 2 chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
Ginger - 1/2"

Garlic - 4 cloves

Green Chilies - 3

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 2tsp
Oil - 3 tsp

Red food color - Optional 

Salt to taste

Method

Fry onion , tomato, ginger, garlic and green chiles in 1 tsp of oil in a pan for 5 mins and grind to a fine paste. In a pan heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the grounded paste for few mins and add all the dry masala powders and add the shrimp and cook till the gravy thicken to your desired consistency. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with rice.

Potato N Mushroom Curry

When you are in need of a easy and tasty recipes for a side dish to please your family member, this is it Potato N mushroom curry. Vegetable dishes are a nutritious way to our family feast. A combination of heart mushroom, everyone favorite potato and some green peas made this dish look and taste is so luscious. Nothing satisfies like mushroom and potato and this great dish with all the spices raises to a new height of taste.

Ingredients
Potato – 1 big cubed to small bite size pieces
Mushroom Chopped – 2 cups
Peas – 1 Cup
Onion – 1 chopped
Ginger Garlic Paste – 2tsp
Tomato Puree – ½ cup or use 2 tomato
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Chili Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
Dry Mint leaves – 2 tsp
Cream – 2 tsp (Optional)
Oil – 2tsp
Salt to taste

Method
Heat oil in a non – stick pan and add the onion and sauté for few mins.
Add the potato and mix well and add ginger garlic paste and mix well, add some water and cook for 10 mins.
Now add all the dry ingredients except the mint leaves and give a nice mix.
Add the chopped mushroom and peas and the tomato puree and cook in a low flame, add water if needed.
Add the mint leaves and cook until all the veggies are cooked. Add cream and remove and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with chapati.

Warm Up With Hot N Sweet Vegtable Soup

It was very lazy day yesterday as it was raining all day and nothing can comfort than a nice hot soup on rainy day and even more better when u have cold. Yesterday dinner was totally chinese, vegetable noodles and this hot and sweet soup. I'm fairly certain that everyone enjoyed their dinner including my little girl. Its been a while since I made this soup and when I made yesterday it tasted heavenly.
My girl refused to have the food I made for her and she wanted only the spicy noodles and she didn't have much of this soup as it was too spicy for her.

Ingredients
Vegetable Broth - 1 tin (chicken broth can also be used)
Cream style corn - 1 tin
Mixed vegetable - 1 cup very finley chopped ( I used carrot, beans, cabbage)
Soy Sauce - 1 tsp
Chili Garlic Sauce - 1 tsp
Ginger chopped - 1tsp
Garlic chopped - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 2 tsp
Oil - 1tsp
Corn Flour - 1 tsp
Salt and Pepper to taste
Spring Onion to Garnish

Method
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and add the chopped garlic and ginger and saute for few mins.
Add the vegetables and fry in a medium flame and add the chili garlic sauce and splash little water to it to avoid burning and cook till the veggies are half cooked.
Now add the vegetable broth and vinegar and cook in a low flame for 10 mins.
Now add the corn and cook again for 10 more mins and add soy sauce and  salt and pepper to your taste.
Finish it with by adding the corn powder mixed in little water, this helps to thicken the soup. Garnish with spring onion.

 

Pumpkin Muffins and My First Award

After visiting the pumpkin patch last week, we came home with three big pumpkins, a pumpkin for a ticket, thank God no ticket for my girl. Pumpkin is not much liked dish at home so kept without using it for a week, not even jack-o-lantern this time as we went after the halloween no one was interested in it, but this week end my boy suggested to do pumpkin muffins and he was soooo excited to help me out. It took lot of time to prepare the puree first, better way is to use the store bought one if you don't have the pumpkin. I didn't have any pumpkin muffin recipe handy so I had to google and it gave lots of recipes as usual and I had difficulty in choosing one and at last I adapted to the recipe from  thepioneerwoman.com site. My pumpkin puree which I made at home was not too thick so my muffins didn't puffed up as it is should be, never mind the taste was excellent, thanks to the pioneerwoman. 

  

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour - 1 Cup

Sugar - 1/2 Cup

Baking Powder - 2 tsp

Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp

Ginger Powder - 1/4 tsp

Nutmeg Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Butter - 4 tbsp

Pumpkin Puree - 1 Cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Milk - 1/2 Cup

Method
Combine all the dry ingredients flour, Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sugar and salt together along with melted butter in a mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl mix together pumpkin puree, egg, vanilla essence and milk.
Pour the pumkin mixture into the flour mixture and combine both well.
Pre-heat oven to 400*F and grease the muffin pan.
Fill the muffin pan to 1/2 to 3/4 with the batter. 
Sprinkle  sugar or cinnamon or mix sugar and cinnamon on each muffin.

Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 mins.

Serve with some whip cream or just plain taste very good.

Babli from http://khanamasala.blogspot.com/ has hourned me by passing on my these awards , thanks Babli for that.

Kale in Lentils

 Normally greens are not in the top favorite list among kids and my boy is no different in that. Almost every Saturdays I make sure to prepare some dish using greens for lunch and I'll feed my boy without his knowledge, this way I am satisfied that he eats something healthy. I love greens and I would eat anything made with it.
This tasty recipe features a mixture of good kale green with a wonderful dhal. Kale is a leafy green vegetable and rich in vitamin C and A and is incredibly healthy food. This dish is amazingly easy to prepare and delicious to eat with rice.

Ingredients
Kale Greens Chopped - 2 cups
Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
Small onion - 3 chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Green Chilies - 3 chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves chopped
Salt to taste
For Tempering
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin Seed - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 3
Garlic - 1 clove minced
Whole Red Chili - 2
Ghee - 1tsp

Method
Pressure cook toor dhal with little turmeric powder and set aside.
In a separate pan cook kale with onion, green chilies, tomato and garlic with little water and salt until its done.
Mash the kale mixture and mix with cooked dhal. Season it with mustard, cumin seed, curry leaves, red chili and garlic. Serve hot with rice and papad..hmm yummy..Enjoy!!  

Spicy Chicken Roll

This is a wonderful chicken snack very ideal during traveling as it is easy to eat without any mess. This dish is very famous in Bangalore and they use to make it with kebabs and that tastes really excellent and I am a great fan of this chicken roll and this is a short cut way to prepare it quickly without making the kebabs and the taste is also similar except for the smokey flavour. This one is made with chicken and this can also be done the same way with potato but the taste is excellent only with chicken and a must try dish.

  

Ingredients

For Marinade

Boneless Chicken pieces - 1/2 lb cut to small bite size pieces

Chicken 65 masala powder - 3 tsp

Ginger garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Yogurt - 3 tsp

Other Ingredient
Chapati - 5
Bell pepper / Capsicum - 1 medium( long slices)
Cabbage Chopped - 1 cup 
Onion - 1 medium sliced lengthwise
Salt and pepper to taste
oil - 3 tsp
Ketchup or ranch

Method
Marinate the chicken with the ingredients under mariande and keep refrigrated for 2 hrs.
In a non-stick pan, heat oil and shallow fry the chicken until cooked and roasted and keep aside. In the same pan fry peppers and capsicum with salt and pepper until half cooked, this gives a nice crunchiness to the roll.
Heat chapati before stuffing and put the chicken pieces in the center and top it with capsicum and cabbage with some raw onion and put some ketchup or ranch or mayonnaise of your choice o top and roll it up and eat it. Great snack.