Banana Walnut bread

I made this Banana Walnut bread one day for an evening snack. Sapna was home early and she saw the banana bread cooling on the table. She yelped with joy. After brewing the tea and filling up the cups for everyone she perched herself on the swing, a teacup in one hand and a stick of the still warm banana walnut bread, nibbling slowly and lost in her own world. She made such a pretty picture. Touch wood.

Back from her reverie she thanked me for this bake. In my mind I thanked God for family and allowing me to make them happy. Then followed her usual remark, "Pranav pahije hota" she obviously misses my foodie nephew whenever I bake.

Ingredients

• 2 large bananas 
• 3/4 cup demerara sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups white flour/ maida
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Peel the bananas. Mash them in a bowl. Mix oil and sugar along with banana and beat till creamy and the sugar is dissolved. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Fold the batter with a spatula.

Prepare the baking tin. Grease and dust with flour. Tap off the excess flour over the basin. Now crush the walnuts with the hand and sprinkle at the bottom of the baking tin. Pour the batter over it. Level it out evenly.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg centigrade for 15-20 mins till the knife inserted comes out clean or its golden on the top and leaves the sides of the tin.

Remove from the oven, let it cool completely, then turn it out on a serving plate. I used a laminated paper banana leaf to serve it on.

This Banana walnut bread is spongy and the oval shape lent itself well to cut out sticks, best for a delicate nibble.

A cashew version of the Banana bread.

Corn N Peas Majjige Huli

The buttermilk had gone sour and I had more than a litre of it. The family was complaining that we were eating too many dal-rice meals. Sumeet found wonderful corn and got them home. I thought of this non traditional majjige huli idea, here in Mumbai not everyone loves their gourds so this corn made succulent in the curry was a safe bet. To add more color I included peas too but those sat at the bottom and didn't really help to make it colorful unless they were scooped up with a spoon. Yeah but it did surprise the diners, when they did.

Follow exactly the traditional recipe of Majjige HuLi With Mangalore Southekayi but instead of the cooking cucumber use corn on the cob, chopped into large chunks and add a cup of peas to the recipe.

It's so much fun to suck on to the corn and if it is as sweet as we had it was a perfect match for the sour curd curry.

Tip: In this curry I added the cilantro to the seasonings and it made a big difference to the flavors.

Orange Marmalade

I made this Orange marmalade in Jan while we were still in Blr. when oranges were in Season. I love the thick skinned oranges. In this recipe I have used Seville oranges which lend themselves wonderfully for a marmalade. I make marmalade without any gelatin so this is slightly runnier than store bought. It helps me achieve the home made feel that instantly family and friends spot. It is therefore more spreadable unlike the marmalade you get in the factory manufactured ones.

Also my proportions of sugar are 3/4 cup of sugar for 1 orange plus juice of 1 orange. You get the most wonderful looking marmalade and the smell is divine on a hot toast or even a warm paratha like you see in the pictures. No spices for me in my orange marmalade please.

Ingredients

2 Seville Oranges

Juice of 2 Oranges

2 cups water

1.5 cup sugar

To begin cut into half horizontally, slice the oranges with skins on a V-slicer.

In a deep pot put the orange slices and add water. It should cover the slices completely. Boil till the oranges are cooked and soft. 

Add sugar when you can press the orange skins and they easily crumble. Once you add sugar the cooking will stop. This is very important, if you have uncooked skins in a marmalade, it is a failure. No one likes chewy skins. So doubly make sure the orange slices are cooked only then add the sugar. 

Boil till the sugar syrup is thick. Add orange juice at this point. Keep stirring intermittently with a wooden spoon. Be careful while stirring, the sugar syrup splutters a lot. Once it starts coating the wooden spoon the marmalade is ready to be removed from heat. It will set as it cools.

Once it is cool enough to handle, can the marmalade in glass jars. Keep a pretty jar on your table for your breakfast cravings of Orange Marmalade on toast or a methi paratha at dinner time.

Bhoplyache Dhapate

Most of the pumpkin was made into a huge pot of Bakar bhaaji when friends and cousins visited. I  had kept a wedge of pumpkin for raita but then on one Sunday morning hungry stomachs demanded a scrumptious breakfast. There was pumpkin and wheat flour and I thought a thalipith would sound music to the hungry ears. Then my Dad said but with just wheat flour you can't call it Thalipith, the purist that he is! He said make Dhapate.

Now Dhapate are nothing but thick rotis made with veggies grated into it, mostly gourds like pumpkins, cucumbers and others. They are not Thalipith because they are made only with wheat flour instead of the toasted and coarse ground multi grain-multi lentil flour. Some people do mix flours of untoasted grains for some body.

They get their name from the method of spreading them out. On a counter dusted with flour, the mix of veggies and flour is patted down into a thick roti. This sound and action of patting into shape is called Dhap-dhap and so these Marathi breads are called Dhapate - made with the Dhap dhap sound. For a neat non messy Dhapate do like I did below.

Dhapate are always served with dry chutney powders like lasun chutney or peanut chutney and at times pickles are yummy accompaniments too.

Pumpkin or Bhopla makes these Dhapate delicious. They can be made plain too for a quick one with just the masalas and no veggies at all. But take my word, the veggies make all the difference.

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin

1.5 cups Wheat flour

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

1 teaspoon goda masala

1 handful chopped cilantro

1 green chili chopped.

salt to taste

Oil to shallow fry

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Knead the dough. Never mind if it is sticky. Pinch off a small ball from the dough. Take a plastic sheet and spread it on it with your fingers. Now pick up the plastic sheet and turn it over into the non-stick fry pan, peel of the plastic sheet while you do that. From the sides add very little oil and roast.

This is a pancake style recipe which should be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Serve piping hot with your favorite chutney or pickle with or without curd on the side.

A steaming cup of tea to wash down is superb.

Growing Pudina

We have this beautiful pot of Mint or Pudina in Indian languages in one of our balconies. This one receives decent sunlight. Here is how my bro Sumeet planted it. He had got a big bunch of mint from the APMC market. Now note that the veggies and herbs that are sold in the APMC market travel atleast 100 kms before they reach the consumer, inspite  of that we got lucky and it grew beautifully.

Here is the 1, 2 3...

1. Take a pot, we used a 4 litre one. 
2. Ensure there is a small hole in the bottom of the pot for draining excess water.
3. Fill with planting soil upto 1 inch below the brim.
4. Create holes in the soil at the top.
5. Take cuttings of Pudina/ Mint, we used about just 4 or 5 cuttings which will stand on its own when stuck into the soil. Keep 3-4 leaves at the top for it to survive while it grows new roots on planting.
6. Sprinkle water to moisten the soil. Do this every day.
7. Ensure enough sunlight, but not direct. You can keep it under a larger plant for some shade.
8. End of the month you will find more sprigs have come up and your pot is lush green.

Tip: 

Mint propagates with the help of rhizomes, it is a sterile plant so bears no seeds though you will see flowers. So to grow more Mint best is to provide it more space to grow.  

Harvest : 

Pluck sprigs when you require for garnishing. When you have a lot of mint snip off just the big leaves with a small scissor. Leave the stems in the pot. They will grow roots and leaves at the nodes.

Some uses:

• Use for garnishing
• Make a chutney when you have a enough harvest.
• Brew Mint tea.
• Chew a few Mint leaves as medicine for getting rid of indigestion.
• Make MaTha.

Composting The Daily Dump Way

What is that in my balcony?

Guess what? my balcony is A Green Balcony, and that is a new label on this blog. My bro S loves growing stuff. He has nurtured a few plants, we have a Brahma kamal, Peace Lilies, Hibiscus and Tulsi in the decorative category and for the kitchen he grows Lemon Grass and Mint. I am helping him expand the green  in our home but I will focus on growing something for the kitchen. In the upcoming posts I will share both my bro's and my experience on growing our greens in our balcony in this Metro.

This post inaugurates the new category on this blog. As our little balconies become green, we need to sustain them with compost and other care. We are also committing ourselves to Upcycling the waste generated by our busy Kitchen.

What you see in the picture above is called a Khamba, I purchased it from the Daily Dump clone in Sion, Mumbai just today. I am so happy to have this composting unit in my home. It consists of 3 large Terracotta pots of about 15 liters capacity each. The pot that sits on the floor is the one with a bottom. The other 2 pots are bottomless. They just have a rope grid in the bottom, as you see in the pics below. The middle and top pots are used for dumping the daily waste from the kitchen.

It's set up in my balcony at the further most end leaning against the wall for good support. Here is how I started it up. 

Step 1: Filled half of the bottom pot with dried leaves.

Step 2: Put the empty middle pot above it. Notice the rope grid on the inside.

Step 3: Placed the 3rd pot on the top. It has the same rope grid, as the second on the inside. Covered it with a sheet of news paper.

Step 4: Added some dry leaves, to form a bed for the wet waste from the kitchen.

Step 5: Then added the wet waste from the kitchen, peels, used tea leaves, wasted food etc. Plastic should not be added, not even in traces. In my home we have separate bins for wet waste and dry waste (papers, plastic, glass etc.)

Step 6: Sprinkled 2 tablespoons of the Compost Accelerator. Sprinkled some water.

Step 7: Sprinkled 2 handfuls of sawdust on the pile. Covering the waste with saw dust avoids growth of maggots.

Step 8: Need to sprinkle 3 tablespoons of Neem after 3 days, to keep the pile fit and free from harmful microbes and fungi.

Step 9: Covered the pot with a lid.

Now every day till the pot is full, we will repeat the step 5 and 7. 

I will share with you the happenings in our Khamba as we go along on this journey of composting at home the Daily Dump way.

These are the other accessories we got with the Khamba unit, a compost sieve (the pink basket), a short rake and a pair of gloves.

Dulce de leche and Remembering Jagan Baba

My Ajoba that's my grand dad was a tyrant and that too with the entire village. Any woman passing our house and found not wearing kunku/ tikka would be stopped and questioned, did you eat? If the answer was in the affirmative he would ask, when you remember to eat why did you not remember to put a bindi? The era has gone by...

There was yet another pet question he would ask young women just engaged for marriage, do you know how to boil a coconut? If the woman exposed her ignorance by saying never heard of such a thing, he would  smash the women with the most vicious words but if it was a smart woman and mocked him for asking that question then he would pat the woman's back and bless her.

I remembered my grandpa today as I made this Dulce de leche. It is a dummy's recipe. As easy as boiling a coconut! 

How to make 

Just dump a sealed can of condensed milk in a pressure cooker with water up to 3/4 level of the can, close the lid and put the weight. Simmer. Time is what you watch here, ignore the whistles. I boiled it for 30 mins and got what you see, an almost toffee consistency. 

Next time for a more pourable consistency and lighter shade will boil for just 15 mins.

I used Amul Mithai Mate because it is easy to open by just tugging at the opener ring on the lid unlike Nestle's Milkmaid can which needs a can opener and if you don't have one then you will struggle to cut open the seal. Plus I prefer local products any day.

Now I am looking for suggestion as to what I can make with it. Tarts are playing on my mind.

Ajoba, narol ukadtan kinai mahit nai, pun condensed milk cha dabba mana ukadita yete :)

Jagan baba where ever you are hope you found peace. (Death: 17th Dec 1985)

(It's a message for my grand dad, "Not sure if coconuts can be boiled but I can boil a can of condensed milk)

Going Social

I started this blog 5.5 yrs ago in Bangalore and moved  back to Mumbai couple of months ago. Gosh I was in Bangalore for a good 7yrs! Time just flew, I lived life on my own terms, pursued many things with passion, like my work, travel, blogging. My life is enriched by so many people I met in this journey.

And as we mark this milestone take a look at what the sitemeter shows...

VISITS
	Total	378,700
	Average Per Day	233
	Average Visit Length	1:45
	Last Hour	8
	Today	80
	This Week	1,628
PAGE VIEWS
	Total	769,694
	Average Per Day	477
	Average Per Visit	2.1
	Last Hour	18
	Today	200
	This Week	3,341

I owe a lot to this blog. I started writing it as a way of staying in touch with family and friends, while I was away. Soon at work too it got me the adoration that people struggle to get. My boss, Ved and my friend and supervisor, Shrinidhi encouraged me to explore and be part of the implementation of a whole new world of Web 2.0. I also got the opportunity to influence the Organization's policy on social media because I was a blogger. I won a lot of friends in real life and then moving back to Mumbai became all the more memorable as I met my blogger buddies for the first time here, just after I returned from Bangalore.

With so much that I got from this blog, ek Thank you! toh banta hai :)

I request you to continue your support, it means so much to me. I promise to tell you more stories, share recipes and bring you some warmth straight from the heart.

What better way to celebrate the homecoming than by going social. What do you think about it let me know?

Come over lets share some interesting conversations, I missed them till now but not anymore. Annaparabrahma is now on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Click on the screenshots in this post to go >>>> 

There are widgets on the sidebar on the right for your convenience.

THANK YOU! 

Vala cha Birda

In the last post I did mention that I don't deprive the elders at home of their favorite tastes though I am cooking healthy most times. As if to prove a point, this post has come up you will say. It's not like it but there is one person in the family that has a weakness for Vala cha Birda. This person can go to lenghts, of soaking the val, peeling them alone, yes it is a challenging task! 

Now once peeled, I am happy to make it. A call to Mothi Aai and she tells me cook the onions and Val separately and then add the coconut masala. It creates a perfect texture. Do not grind. I follow instructions to the T and I am rewarded with a recreation of a curry that has many fond moments associated with it from childhood. Sprouted Val is called Birda, hence the name of the curry.

I have mentioned in an earlier post the craze for Birda in my family and how Val Dal saved our life if Birda was not peeled and available at short notice.

But before we go into the recipe let me explain to you the treatment val requires.

Preparation

The three phases of Val:
R to L - dried, soaked n sprouted and the peeled sprouts

1. You got to soak the dried val overnight. I used 1/2 kg Val to get 1 kg peeled sprouts.

2. Then next day remove into a cloth bag, tie up the mouth and hang the bag on a hook in the warm parts of your kitchen. Leave them in the bag for another day and night. In warm climes they should sprout about an inch or two.

3. Remove the sprouts into a container. Pour hot water over it. This will loosen up the skins. Let the sprouts soak for a good 1 hour. Then it is easy to peel the skins. Here is when the entire family should team up. Make it a rule, they will get a share only if they help peel the sprouts ;) I know I sound like a dictator but I hate this part.

Keep aside the peeled Val.

The Ground Masala

Like you see here. Grind together to smoothness.

1/2 coconut

handful of cilantro

4 cloves garlic

1 inch of ginger

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon Koli Masala (1/2t garam masala+1/2t red chili powder)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 green chili

Other Ingredients

1kg of  peeled Val sprouts

2 medium potatoes

2 large Onions chopped

1 tablespoon oil

Method

1. Heat a handi or a copper bottom deep vessel. 

2. Pour oil. 

3. Fry the onions till shinny n cooked.

4. Add the val and quartered potatoes. Mix well to coat with onions and oil.

5. Pour 2 glasses water. Cook till potato is powdery and about to crumble. Val takes time to cook and watching the potato cook is the best way to ensure that Val is cooked. 

Beware that Val when not cooked properly is difficult to digest and may cause increased flatulence. 

6. Once the Val is cooked well. Add the ground masala and cook on sim for a good 15-20 mins. 

Cover and keep for 15 mins before you serve. This curry like all Koli curries taste better the next day, if preserved in the fridge.

On this day I went the extra mile and served this Thali of Vala cha Birda, Rice, Ghari,  Sheera, Masoor Kairi Dal,  Lime n ginger pickle and Kairi chi Chutney 

This is a recipe that's spicy by my standards. Yet some people in the family would have preferred it to be more fiery. What made my day is the happiness on my father's face was priceless!

Other blogger's who have made Birda or Dalimbi usal

Chakali

Nupur

Bottle Gourd and Moong Dal

While summer calls for mango indulgences it also needs a balancing act with main course dishes. This bhaaji is a perfect summer dish, made with the water laden dudhi or bottle gourd. It is one vegetable I resist even now as an adult. In the last many years of my cooking, my veggies are made as simple as possible, without too much onion tomato paste even the traditional koli ground coconut masala is rarely used. If at all my coconut curries are made only on the weekend, I cannot deprive Dad and the elders of their favorite foods , so I do make them once in a while.

This curry is yet again a Koli authentic one but without the coconut masala. Traditionally deskinned moong dal is used but to add more fibre and texture to the curry I used skinned moong dal. Note it is not whole moong, it is skinned split moong ki dal.

It's very simple to make and it's the first time I ever liked bottle gourd, in all it's simplicity so thought it would be a good idea to share it here.

Ingredients

500gms bottle gourd, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup skinned moong dal (not whole moong)
2 medium sized onions, chopped
few curry leaves
1 large tomato
1 green chili
1/2 teaspoon Koli masala
or (1/2 teaspoon garam masala+1/2 teaspoon red chili powder)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon oil
salt to taste

Place a deep vessel like a taup/ pateli/ saucepan on fire. Heat the oil. Fry the curry leaves, chopped onions to translucence. Add the cubed bottle gourd and the chopped tomato, mix to coat with oil. Add the koli masala and the slit green chili. If you need more heat increase the masala amount. Add the turmeric. Then the dal. Give a stir and top up with 2 glasses of water. Cover and cook till the dal looks fluffed up and just about to crumble. Keep the water content just a bit. Salt the dal and mix well. Boil to rolling for 2 mins and put off heat. Cover and let the flavors steep for atleast 20 mins before you serve.

Do not mash, you will enjoy the fibre from the skinned dal and the coconut masala is not missed in this healthier version of a Koli traditional dal.

Enjoy you summers without health hassles by including more cooling veggies, like cucumbers, all types of gourds and greens in your food! Needless to say stay hydrated you all.

Kairi chi Chutney

The internet world has a great part in my life just like yours. It is the most generous society, when it comes to sharing experiences, laughs or recipes and even food.

Here is a some friendly blabber I'm sharing with you that will have you ROFL for sure...

Aamir Khan:
My infamously crazy Mango shopping got underway past weekend. Bought 35Kgs of Badami and Alphonso varieties. This man has tasted blood!
Aakash Kumar: Awesome.. Go for the kill
Aamir Khan: The 50 Kgs I bought last year still will take some beating :)
Vaibhav Parekh: ‎'Aam' ka wazan hai ki 'Aam Aadmi' ka!!!!
Aamir Khan: Aam-Dani athanni, kharcha rupaiya!
Aakash Kumar: too much Aam craze.. you may wanna use this as your DP during 'Aam' Season: 

Vaibhav Parekh: an 'Arm' for an 'Aam'!!
Aamir Khan :Aam-shaking is a way of greeting in Ratnagiri :)
Vaibhav Parekh: King of Mangoes should be called 'Aamitabh'!!
Aamir Khan :And comedian amongst Mangoes should be called "Jim Kairi'
Vaibhav Parekh: Katy Perry is thinking of changing her name to 'Peti Kairi'!!
Aamir Khan: And the Ravan villain amongst the mangoes will be called ""Dus-Sehri"
Vaibhav Parekh: Mayapuri's seasonal magazine will be called 'Totapuri'!!
Aamir Khan :Munaf Patel to be made brand ambassador for "Langda" aam
Vaibhav Parekh: The one who does not like it will be called 'Langda Tyagi'
Aamir Khan :Dongri's favorite Aam "Badaam"
Vaibhav Parekh: Not to forget 'Aam'chi Mumbai'!!
Aamir Khan :Aam Loving it!
Vaibhav Parekh: Baba Aamdev!!
Aakash Kumar: ‎"Aam' going to sleep now.. *yawn* :P
Vaibhav Parekh :YAWN sambandh!!
Aamir Khan :‎"Aam"igos, Gd nght
Raju Dedhia: bhai .. kuch export bhi kardo !!!
Anjali Koli : Make sure you're chilling the mangoes well before you eat and take an antidote of curd or sabja water in the day...that will avoid skin eruptions and other heat related stuff. Garmi Bahut hoti hai is phal mein...
Anjali Koli : Lol to all the all the Aam blabber...Aam junta!!!

Well in this conversation I also realized how rich Indian languages are we don't say just Mango for a fruit that has 2 stages, we don't need 2 words to describe them. Kairi is a single word for raw mango while a ripe one is called Aam/ Amba. 

Now the recipe I'm remaking here is Saee's. The jar of chutney that you see below is a gift she gave us when we blogger buddies met. At home people demanded that I make a huge batch for the big family. Saee now has my family and my circle of friends for fans.

Ingredients:
5 medium-sized raw mango
4 cup jaggery
4 halves dried coconut
3 teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder (she uses whole red chilies)
4 tsp. fenugreek seeds
4 tbsp. vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Method Peel and grate the mango, she says. Lazy me just chopped roughly and let the grinder do the hard work.

Lightly fry the fenugreek seeds in the oil.

Once fragant put off heat and add the chili powder to the hot oil.

Stir till oil cools a bit and the chili powder is not chared and smokes evenly with the hot oil.

Crush the jaggery, creates a lesser load on your grinder. Especially when you make a huge batch like this one.

Place all ingredients in the mixer jar and grind. No water is required. Remove to an airtight container and store it in the fridge.

This chutney is wonderful with whatever you want to have it with. Chips, breads, rice and though we are eating it like this with every meal these days, I sent it as dip along with Kothimbir vadi for my friend Sangita's birthday celebrations with her team at work and they simply adored it.

We also mixed up some pohe-kurmure chivda with chopped onions and tomatoes and laced it with this Kairi chi chutney. A sukha bhel for your 4pm hunger and oh so healthy.

Stay warned you will be addicted!

Saee has compiled the mango recipes on her blog go over to check them out. They are some of the most authentic and delicious Marathi recipes.

Vanilla Icecream With White Peach Compote Topped With Sweet N Spicy Almonds

This post is about Friends and inspirations, not without food, you know it.

Though the Vanilla ice cream is bought out The White Peach compote is homemade as is the Sweet and spicy almonds. This post is inspired by Friends completely, right from the styling to the recipes. 

When we bloggers met, one of the gifts from P of Evolving Tastes were these dried white peaches, used in this recipe today. She suggested a few recipes, one of which was the compote. I wanted to make it my recipe to share on the blog. So this new sundae is a creation from my kitchen lab. It also uses a recipe from my classmate, Smita's blog, of the Sweet n Spicy Almonds 

The dessert in a jar concept has been haunting me after I saw Saee's pic of Orange rasgullas buried in vanilla icecream. So you see where the inspiration comes from for this styling.

It was an absolutely enriching experience to be with fellow bloggers, the main topic revolved around food but we talked endlessly on photography, social connects, ingredients and shared notes on where we get the best. We talked about family and shared our experiences of our journey as food bloggers. How we announced news about each other to our family members, this social media brought us so close to each other much before we met in person. It's been more than a week and am still talking about our meet to family and friends. It is a pleasant surprise how easily we connected up and giggled like little girls, inhibitions dropped.

Now moving on to the recipe of the sundae, it being a compilation with a special touch of my own is enumerated here in three parts.

The White Peach Compote

2 pieces of dried white peaches

2 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon sugar
1 small pinch cinnamon powder
1 small pinch nutmeg powder

Soak the dry fruits in a cup of water overnight. Once plumped up, cook the fruit with honey and sugar in a small non stick pan. Keep it thick and saucy. Before removing from heat add the spices and mix. Let it cool.

You can make this in large quantities, bottle it and store in an airtight container in the freezer. It can stay good for a month.

This compote can make a wonderful "khubani ka meetha" kind of a thing P had suggested. When served with fresh cream or rabdi. 

The Sweet n Spicy Almonds

I made a tiny batch just for using it as toppings for this sundae. So I made them on the stove top instead of the oven like Smita did.

10 Almonds
1 teaspoon Honey
1/2 teaspoon of Olive Oil
1 small pinch Kashmiri chili powder,
1 small pinch Salt,
1 teaspoon Sugar

I toasted the almonds in the tadka bowl till fragrant. Then in the same bowl I added a teaspoon of honey, and water each and 1/2 teaspoon of Olive Oil. Put it back on heat and let the almonds soak up the liquids. Removed from heat and sprinkled a pinch of Kashmiri chili powder and salt each. Then 1 teaspoon sugar. Kept tossing the tadka bowl till the almonds cooled and the sugar clung to the almonds.

Arranging the dessert

In two jars fill the bought out Vanilla icecream to half level, then add the layer of the chilled White Peach Compote. Now put 5 of The Sweet n Spicy Almonds on the top.

A sweet surprise was ready to be served to a family that returned from a visit to Gondavale.

Are you asking about the taste? It's delicate and the sweet n spicy almonds take this sundae to the zenith. You must try it out and do let me know what you think about it.

The Virtual And The Real Friends

I met my blogger buddies last Saturday.

Saee of http://myjhola.in
P whom I always called ET till we met; of http://evolvingtastes.blogspot.in
and 

Harini (a new friendship is planted) of http://tongueticklers.com

My first such meet, it felt like we knew each other for years. Yes we did through our blogs so meeting in person was the next natural thing to do. Enjoyed the time we spent together. Lunch at Bangali Mashi's Kitchen followed by coffee at The Stolen Coffee Room across the road. We enjoyed the authentic Bengali Thali and fell in love with the Coffee shop, its colorful blue facade was warm and inviting. Those 5hrs together were filled with laughter, stories and promises to do many more things together.

We exchanged food gifts, I got dried peaches and nectarines from ET (she is visiting from across the globe), Saee gave away Mango chutney and me a quilled card, Koli masala and peanut burfi called badam pak a signature of Thal.

While these are old virtual friendships getting real I had to share it with my real friends who will connect more with me virtually now as I have moved cities.

Cheers!

P.S: Reviews of the joints plus recipes and experiments coming up soon...

Note: No pictures as We respect everyone's privacy.

A Decadent Cheesecake, My First !

I have rarely felt a rush to post a recipe so urgently! 

Cheesecakes are food porn and after oggling at them one day you just succumb. Well yet I wanted something to suit my preferences. I have successfully avoided using gelatin in my cooking, due to its animal origins. Hence I was always looking out for firming ingredients but the options are limited. Agar-agar is an option, but I don't like the texture, after a one time use I never touched it again. Then the internet did help me out, lime juice does help to firm up cold condensed milk is what I learnt and this experiment sounded easy.

Yesterday was a Sunday, everyone was at home yet I did not have any dessert ready because my super busy bro dilly dallied a visit to the D-Mart. Then in the evening Sapna was coaxing me to go when Sumeet was ready to take us there. I told the couple to go for some romance to the store, why the kabab mein haddi. When they were back with all the ingredients I wanted, I set out to put it together. A no bake cheesecake that turned out absolutely decadent and its my first!

Ingredients

1 cup hung curd
1 tin condensed milk/ Amul Mithai Mate
1/2 teaspoon raspberry essence
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup Strawberry crush (Mapro)


For the crust
2 packs glucose biscuits
1/2 cup molten butter

In the chutney jar, crumble with the hand one packet of biscuit at a time and grind to powder. Remove it into a deep plate. Warm the butter in a bowl, if you measure out 1/4 cup of solid butter and melt it, it will give you 1/2 cup of molten butter. Pour it over the biscuit powder and mix it with the fingers.

Take a tin or a deep dish (I used an oval aluminum baking dish) and line with foil. Let the foil hang over the dish well. This would allow you to pick up the cheesecake with ease when you unmold. Now in this lined dish, spread the biscuit crumble laden with butter. Press it down onto the base. Use your palm to press. Not to worry too much the butter will bind the powder well and seal the possibility of a seepage. Chill the tin for an hour. This is the crust for the base of the cheesecake.

Now in a food processor, fit the whipping blade. Add the hung curd and inch, do not run continuously. Then pour in the entire contents of the condensed milk tin. Whip for a few seconds. Add the raspberry essence and pulse once. Fold in the lime juice slowly and inch for few more seconds. The mix should look nice and creamy and ivory colored.

Pour this mix on the chilled crust. Spread it with a spatula. You will see it begin to set. Now cover the tin with foil or cling film and move the tin into the frigidaire. Chill overnight. 

Sapna had barely brushed her teeth this morning and asked, "Did you unmould the cheesecake?"

I had to succumb to sibling pressure of urgently doing the needful. So the devilish cheesecake had to come out of the hidding place, I required Sapna's help to lift up the cheesecake out of the tin. A springform pan would have been a better choice. We did place it with onto the serving plate with just one small crease. Then deftly had to remove the foil from underneath it. This is the most basic cheesecake. It tastes awesome just as is but my family is demanding. They wanted some color.

Before serving we decided that we can play with flavors, colors and ideas of decoration and since we were hungry and impatient we bathed the pristine ivory cheesecake with Mapro's Strawberry crush.

This was the family's breakfast today! I took a small bite too :P It was irresistible!!

Note : It was a little jiggly and clean cuts are a little difficult with a plastic spatula. Keep dipping it in water before cutting out each slice. I chilled it in the chiller tray, next time will try it in the freezer. For a cheesecake without any firming agent added, its set pretty well for my expectation.

Cabbage Palya

This is a super simple and a ubiquitous bhaaji that you will find in South Indian homes. As a kid who liked cabbage in any form? neither the simple nor the spicy. It smelt so awful always. Then you grow up and you make peace with this bhaaji. Conditions apply, the cabbage has to be shredded fine, it has to be cooked perfectly, there should be a perfect glaze and a crunch retained. That's enough! ;)

Now that I am in Mumbai, I am recording the perfect Cabbage Palya I once made in Blr. Yes I perfected the recipe in Blr. This will be useful for all the beginner cooks and lonely souls missing Ma's food and will cry into their bowl of cabbage palya once they try this recipe.

Ingredients

1 cabbage (1/2 kg)
2-3 green chilies
2 teaspoon urad dal
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
few curry leaves
salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil
optional fresh grated coconut for garnish

Heat oil to smoking point. Splutter the mustard seeds, add the urad dal. Fry till golden. Add the curry leaves and the green chillies. 

Now add the finely chopped cabbage. This is a must! Use a V slicer or a Food processor. Stir for 5-7 mins. Salt it. Cover and cook for another 5. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle some fresh grated coconut if you like and are permitted to eat.

Enjoy it like a salad or an accompaniment with roti of your choice. This palya is very versatile as a filling for sandwich, wraps and even samosa. See I let out a secret use of even the most ordinary palya. Enjoy the simple pleasures.

Tur, Methi, Mushroom Handi

This is a curry that I loved a lot when I made it but I could not post it immediately. We were still in Blr. and it was the beginning of the winter harvest, when the markets are flooded with the freshest legumes. Of all of the legumes, Tur has a certain special place. It is not as mundane as peas, though it will be unfair if I say I don't like mutter. I love the fresh Val or Avarekai too. Yet Tur creates the excitement that mutter or Val does not. There are too many recipes to use mutter and a few must makes when avarekai is in season. All of those recipes can be made with Tur too. On this particular day the Tur pod was pregnant with the seeds and yet tender. I had a bunch of fresh methi and button mushroom too that I picked from the store when the stock had just comes in. It made me so happy that I had to use this bounty to make a recipe that would not fail me.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh Tur /pigeon peas

2 cups chopped methi leaves

1 cup small button mushroom (cut into 2)

1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

2 teaspoon oil

For the Masala

2 large onions

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoon coriander powder

2  teaspoon koli masala (OR 1 teaspoon garam masala + 1 teaspoon red chili powder)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Salt

First prepare the masala. With a knife create a cross cut in the onions like you would to stuff, not all the way thru but about 3/4th through the bulb. On direct flame roast the onions till the outer peel is charred and the insides look cooked. Turn over to cook evenly. When both are done keep aside to cool. Now peel of the charred skin and roughly chop up the onion and put it in the grinder. Add all the spices and grind to a fine paste with minimum amount of water and salt to taste. Save.

Now in a handi or a deep vessel heat oil. Add this masala and fry till the oil separates about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add ginger and garlic paste. Fry for another minute. Now add the vegetables tur, methi and mushrooms, keep stirring till methi wilts a bit. Then follow in with the tomatoes, on high heat let the tomatoes crumble down to a paste. Now finally top up with water. Keep the consistency thick and creamy. Cover and cook for about 7-8 minutes. Put off the heat and let the flavors soak well before you serve. 

This yummy handi is scoopable with any roti or bread and is equally enjoyable when mixed with a steamed rice or a simple jeera rice.

Banarasi Kemami Sevaiya

There are several versions of sevaiyan made into a kheer. This one was made by Zebi on Master Chef in season one. It made Akshay Kumar gush about the taste that reminded him about his mother's sevaiyan. This one had Khoya in it so I knew it is a rich version but this rich! is something I didn't imagine. This Holi I made it for my family. I moved back to Mumbai and am back with my family. I know its late to post about Holi but never too late to share this luscious recipe. It is the first time I am using Makhana and that too in a sweet. This blogging really is motivating to use new ingredients, that have not been known neither have been ever used in cooking in your entire family.

So here is the recipe, I tweaked it a bit as I did not have kevara essence. Plus I was cooking for a family of 6 adults so I halved the recipe and used very little ghee. That much ghee in the  original recipe is really unnecessary I think. The sugar was adjusted to our liking. I loaded the sevaiyan with all possible dry fruits I had at home. She uses water for the syrup as she uses khoya, I used milk and condensed milk for the lusciousness.

Benarsi Kemami Sivaiain recipe by Zebi Zubair

Ingredients

• 1/4 kg Benarsi Siwai 
• 1 litre milk
• 1 kg Khoya (I used 3/4 tin condensed milk)
• 250 gm Sugar 
• 1  tablespoon Pure ghee
• 3 drops Kevra essence / I used 1 teaspoon rose water
• 3-4 Green cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg powder (zaifal)
• 1 cup Makhana (chopped)
• 1 small piece Coconut 
• 10 Cashewnut
• 4 -5 Almond
• 10g Kishmish
• 4 roundels dried figs
• 10g black raisins
• 10gms khajur
• 5 pieces Silver foil (chandi ka waraq) optional Or rose petals

Method
In a pan add ghee and roast the sewai till brown, add Makhana and roast a bit. Add sugar, water, khoya or condensed milk and milk to a pan and bring to a boil till you get a four string consistency. Shallow-fry the dry fruits in oil. Add the roasted sewai to the dry fruits and sugar syrup. Cook on a slow flame for five minutes. Remove from heat and then add kewra essence (3 drops) in the mix. Season with cardamom powder and zaifal powder, rest it for 4 minutes. Decorate with silver foil and fried dry fruits before serving, is what Zebi did. I added a splash of color with rose petals to hint about the gulab pani.

One note: even 1/4 kg sevaiyan was a lot for 6 people, we shared with 5 more people. Next time I will make it with just 1/8kg.

At the end of the yummy recipe you are left wondering, where is kemami in the ingredients? Well well, I had to google hard to know Kemami or Qimami, means scented/ perfumed in Persian and Urdu. Zebi's were Kevara scented mine were with Gulab pani, what will you scent it with? How about Khus?

Another version:

Shevayi Kheer

Sicilian Caponata With Rice Croquettes

Sicilian Caponata with Rice Croquettes and Tzatziki

Hi Friends! Its been a long time since I posted. Couple of friends dropped comments here to check on me. Appreciated. Well there is some news at my end but that is for later first things first for the love of food that I will have to stay away from henceforth. The same food that I was so obsessed about now is rarely going to be cooked in the same way in my home. I the foodie and food blogger have a voice ringing in my head, " Run...cholestrol ~ ~ ~" when I see the beautiful glasses of strawberry and cream or fried food on blogs and TV shows. I still watch food shows not easy to give that up yet but what's playing in my mind is how can I make the recipes heart healthy

Now before I begin to post heart healthy recipes let me get done with the 15 in my draft. Those who are younger and who exercise enough can still enjoy them. So here is a recipe I made from the memories of an experience at the cafeteria in the visitors center at Auroville. In Auroville live people from 40 countries and visitors from all over the world so the menu is always continental. The recipes are contributed by these visitors who work at the cafeteria during their stay and the food is mostly homestyle.

Sicilian Caponata Sauce, if  I had to tell family, is a Vangya chi bhaaji with Italian herbs it could be fresh or dried parsley or rosemary like I used. In addition to the dominant aubergines and tomato you can add a whole lot of veggies or for the non veg version any meat of your choice.

Traditionally the aubergines are used with the skins on but here I wanted to make a special lunch so I scooped out the flesh and made boats just to add glamor, it was a weekend meal after all. Plus I wanted my Dad to enjoy it because we had left him behind at home while my bro and me went off on Pondicherry-Auroville-Mahabalipuram trip, where we had enjoyed this memorable meal.

I made Rice Croquettes on this day because that is what we had at Auroville but you could serve is with an crusty bread or even use it as a pizza topping.

Ingredients

Sicilian Caponata Sauce

1 large aubergine (7X4 inches)
4 tomatoes
2 large onions
1 teaspoon dried Rosemary
2 teaspoon olive oil
salt and sugar to taste


Rice Croquettes 
 
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup finely diced carrots
1/2 cup finely diced Capsicum
1 teaspoon cumin
salt to taste
wheat flour for dredging

Oil for deep frying the croquettes

Lets begin with the sauce. Wash and pat dry the aubergine. Cut vertically into two halves. Now with a spoon scoop out the flesh, dice it and keep aside. Chop up the onions and tomatoes into large chunks and keep ready.

In a frying pan add the oil, saute the onions till transparent. Follow in with the aubergines and mix to coat well will oil. Cover and cook for 5 mins. Then add the tomatoes and put the lid back for another 5 mins. Remove the lid and season with dried rosemary, salt and sugar. Cover and cook for 5 more mins till everything melds well.

Rice Croquettes 

For the rice balls just mix together all  the ingredients and don't forget the salt. Roll them and dredge in whole wheat flour. Heat oil and deep fry in hot oil. When they are golden brown pull them out and let them drain on a absorbent paper.

Putting together and serving

In a greased baking tray arrange the aubergine boats. Brush them lightly with oil. Bake for 4 mins. Then scoop in the Sicilian Caponata Sauce into it. Bake for another 5 mins.

Remove each boat into a serving plate and place one rice croquettes on it. Serve with some fresh crunchy vegetables or like I did with Tzatziki

With that it's a bye bye to fried food. You will see it on this blog only if it is prepared for others or if there is a recipe in the draft yet to be posted. I have been Stented and can never go back to eating carelessly like I used to. I am still contemplating whether my writing a separate post on it is going to help other people. When I have made up my mind I will detail my experience of Myocardial Infraction and the treatment I received and what I am doing for rehab.