Thursday, February 18, 2010

Rabdi


Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 cup paneer, grated
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
a few strands saffron

For the garnish
1 tbsp crushed almonds

Heat milk in a heavy bottomed vessel and bring it to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat and add the paneer crumbs, condensed milk, cardamom powder and saffron. Cook on low heat for 5 mins. Garnish with crushed almonds. Chill overnight and serve.

Paneer Jalfrezi

A variation to paneer chili with the addition of schezwan sauce.



1 block paneer ( 400g) cut in rectangle pcs
1  each- bell pepper, red onion,
5-8 green chillies, cut fine
1 inch ginger piece, julliened
3-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp hot chilli sauce (I used Taco bell brand)
2 tbsp (chings) Schezwan sauce
salt

Shallow fry paneer peices with oil to a golden brown color.
Heat oil in a wok, add ginger, garlic, bell pepper and red onions. Saute to get the onions translucent.
Add all the sauces, salt, green chillies, paneer and spring onions.
Stir fry for a few mins to soften the spring onions and coat up the paneer well.
Serve hot as an appetizer.

Tawa Bhaji



Ingredients
2 big red onions
1 green bell pepper
1 medium potato
cauliflower florets
2 green chillies slit
1 tomato
1 inch pc ginger finely chopped
paneer cubes
2tsp kitchen king masala
1 tsp paneer makkanwala powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp kasoori methi
cilantro for garnish
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste


Method
In a kadai, heat oil, add onion, fry potaoes cooked for a few minutes and add the spices and stir for a few minutes. Mix in rest of the veggies and paneer, saute to crisp the vegies, simmer and cook for a few minutes, covered. Garnish with cilantro and crushed kasoori methi. Serve with paratha/ chapathi.
G's note: there is no added water to this dish and the veggies have a slight crunch to them and not completely cooked.

Anjeer kulfi

Monday, February 15, 2010

Khurle ghashi



Ingredients
4 lbs crabs/ kurlo (mine was frozen snow crabs)
2 cups coconut
1 small sized onion, finely minced
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
8-10 red chillies, roasted
1 tsp tamarind paste
salt

Make a paste out of coconut, roasted red chillies, tamarind and salt.
Heat 1 cup of water in a big stock pot.  Add  crab and steam for 5 mins. 

In a seperate pan, roast onions in 1 tbsp oil.  Add  ground masala, ginger, steamed crabs and bring it to a rolling boil, cover. Cook for 5 minutes. Let sit for an hour before serving.
Heat well and serve hot with rice.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Roasted red bell pepper hummus


Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 can chickpeas; drained
1/2 cup red bell peppers; roasted
2 garlic cloves; minced
1 tsp kasmiri chilli powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt


Add all ingredients but the oil into a food processor and start processing. Add the oil slowly until you reach the consistency you’d like. Enjoy it with edible spoons IE with chips of your choice(pita chips/ tortilla chips/ crostini's).

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Vanilla cake with choc frosting

Mix together cake flour, water, eggs and oil to a smooth batter.


Spray the pan with cooking spray or smear with butter generously. Bake at 325F for 1 hr for a 8 inch diameter by 3 inch height. ( 8 X 3)


Remove from oven. A well done cake should leave the sides of the pan.


Remove after 10 mins, while it is still warm to ensure the easy release of the cake.


Cool on a cooling rack till completely cooled.


Smear some icing on the base of your cake board so that the cake won't slide during placing.


Make as many layers as desired. In my case, due a good height of cake pan, I got 4 layers out of 3".


Pipe a ring of icing so the filling does not ooze out, between each layers.


Ice the top of the cake first by using a lot of icing on top since it is easy to remove extra icing but hard to put it back on if your spatula touches the cake, making all the crumbs to ruin your cake.


Ice the sides next, again without letting the spatula touch the cake. At this point, the spatula should touch the icing only at all times, for the same reason explained above.



A comletely iced cake, also called crumb coating. The cake is visible and the crumbs may show through the icing...no worries, since this is getting a second coat of icing. Now the cake can be chilled for an hour to seal the crumbs. I skipped the step since I did not get crumbs on my first coat.


A second coat was applied(In my case chocolate) Decorated and was ready for presentation.





Here's a second look as I totally loved making this for my sweetie!


The irresistable chocolate rose. If I may say so, myself!

Sourdough bread

Sourdough 101
Don't freak out looking at the pictorial....it is just broken in parts so a beginner can do it with no(or less) confusion. It's pretty easy considering that I've failed a few times and came up with a no-fail recipe. I guarantee it!

Ingrediemts needed are pretty much what we always have ready. Theres nothing much to it. Really! What gives this bread a 'tang' is what we need to have ready a day in advance.






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A starter:
Mix together 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 tsp yeast(optional) and let sit for 12-24 hrs.
I left mine for a full 24 hrs.
At this point you can do one of two things:
a) take half and follow rest of the procedure with it or share/discard the second half
b) keep the second half & feed half cup water and 1/2 cup flour and let sit 24 hrs for another day of bread making/pancakes/muffins/scones etc.
It can also be saved in refrigerator, loosely covered and keep feeding it every week and this lasts good for a whole year( some bakers say, indefinitely) provided, u take half out and add half cup of each water and flour, religiously. That is another topic with a longer explanation and for another day.

So here's my starter all mixed in & ready to work its magic.


This is how it looks next day. Add 1 1/2 cup flour and 3 cups water and mix well.



This is how it looks after 12 hrs. Let it sit 12 more hrs to get the tang.


24 hrs later, you will see a well fermented batter.


Add 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour, 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt, 1tsp sugar and mix well to make a pliable dough.


This is how your dough should look like....non sticky and smooth.


5-6 hrs later, the dough has doubled up in volume. You'll know it is ready when you poke a hole at the center & the dent stays in.


Take a look at the beautiful gluten that was working hard to make it look like this...stretchy, yeasty smell & pliable. Its time to punch it down, shape into whatever your heart desires. Typically a loaf, baguette, Boule or rolls.



I shaped mine into lump (talk about being lazy. In my defense, all the wait for the dough to be ready was tiring enough!). Set aside for 1 hr (OR until it has doubled up in volume) to proof( second rise).


Mist the risen dough with water (for crisp crust) and bake for 17- 20 mins @ 450F. For a better color, use beaten egg white as a wash instead of water.
My baked bread sort looked pale...sigh! I wasn't happy with the color but the taste was 'to die for'. The smell that filled my kitchen was amazing. Absolutely a keeper recipe for us, I'll work at it to achieve the color as well as I see many more breads coming out of my oven.
* A well baked bread should sound hollow when tapped on and the crust should feel crisp when poked. Yeah, I can be crazy like that!


Now admire the beautiful bread, pat yourself on the back and bite into the bread with a pat of butter.

Methi paratha





Ingredients:
Wheat flour
Methi leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
garlic - 4 cloves, grated
turmeric - 1 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
amchur powder - 1/2 tsp
jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
salt
In a large bowl, add all the above ingredients with enough water to make a pliable dough. Cover and set aside for a couple of hrs to let the gluten work.
Roll out thin parathas and roast on a griddle with a little oil.
Serve hot with mango pickle.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Thalipeet



















Ingredients:
1/2 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup Gram Flour
1 tbsp Semolina
2 cups cabbage
1 medium Onion,
2-4 Green Chillies,
Coriander Leaves,
1/2 tsp Jeera Powder
1/2 tsp dhaniya Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
Oil for roasting


Method:
Finely chop the cabbage, onion, green chillies and coriander leaves.
Mix all the ingredients except oil it into stiff dough using water.
Heat the griddle and apply oil. Keep a small ball in the centre of the griddle and flatten using a ladle or fingers to make the thinnest roti you can.
I also make a small hole in the centre, like the way traditional Maharastrians make to pour a tsp of oil. Oil is applied in the centre as well as the edges of the thalipeeth. Cook evenly and roast both sides to crisp.
Serve with yogurt and pickle.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Happy Valentine's day!

The one thought that kept me occupied all of today is the thought of Valentine's day tomorrow. Hands down, it is my favourite holiday. I've been day dreaming of all the heart shaped desserts I can do.....cheesecakes?,flan?, decadent cakes?....just can't decide!
Festivities went with tiramisu brought by R Kini and Anjeer kulfi made by me. Anjeer kulfi recipes can be found here.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Methi paneer




Ingredients:
Onion- 1, finely chopped
garlic - 2 cloves, crushed
paneer- 100 gms, crumbled
methi leaves- 1 bunch,just leaves, about 2 cups
jeera - 1 tsp, crushed
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
salt

In a kadai, heat 2 tbsp oil and saute onion till translucent.
Add all the masala powders, salt and paneer peices.
keep stirring to mix in spices and roast paneer peices, about 5 mins.
Add methi leaves, and cover and cook for about 5 mins till leaves wilt and are cooked.
Serve hot with Chapathi.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Falooda

Ingredients: Makes 4
1 cup Rose syrup
1 cup cup milk
6 tbsp basil seeds (tukmariya/subza) - soaked in water
6 tbsp vermicelli - cooked only for a couple minutes
4 scoops vanilla icecream
4 tablespoons of strawberry jelly

Method:
In a tall glass,first add the rose syrup, add the basil seeds, vermicelli and milk very gently so it layers nice and doesnt mix up. Top it with icecream and jello chunks. Needs long spoon and preferably smoothie straw to indulge in both the solid and liquid chilled experience.

Garlic, pesto, marinara bread



Recipe is same as the Rustic Italian bread, rolled into a french bread shape.