Strawberry Custard/ Mousse

I have been meaning to send this mousse/custard to Pari’s event but postponement seems to have become the way of life right now.

 So today, I promised myself in the evening I will post this entry. I just have to post it is fully drafted. Imagine my dismay when I was to stay at work for some extra time! And my horror when what I have been thinking as a complete post ready is nothing but cryptic scribbles that took me ages to understand!!

I know I will say never again and continue the same method. So I will not say never again...

 Sounds crazy!

Ingredients:

1 cup curd, chilled  

5 grms agar agar

½ cup water

2 cups fresh strawberry

3 tblspn sugar

1 ½ cups milk, chilled

½ cup whipped cream, chilled

1 tblspn powdered sugar

Method:

1.       Hang the curd in a muslin cloth or in a fine strainer for the whey to drain out.

2.       Cut agar agar in small bits and soak in water till soft. Then heat on low flame stirring till the agar agar dissolves.

3.        Mix sugar and strawberries. Mash.

4.       Add milk blend.

5.       Whip the cream with sugar and curd carefully.  Mix with the milk and strawberry   carefully.

6.       Mix the agar agar and set in fried in individual 4 glasses or in a bowl.

7.       Serve chilled.

Sendig to Pari’s event  at 

and to Priya Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes.

Cluster Awards - Passing on the Kindness Shown

Have you had your kindness show, pass it on, for it is not thine alone, pass it on...


These awards, my second one, to be exact have been passed over by Priya Mahadevan of        NOW SERVING ...   Thank you Priya! Please do visit her blog for some exiting recipes. She is not only an accomplished cook but also a excellent dancer, yoga teacher and a journalist!!


 I am thrilled to bits! I have met here, wonderful cooks, nay chefs here in this virtual world, masters par excellence not just cooking but in other fields also. And being appreciated by such an accomplished person is an accomplishment!!

I am told that I have to share this award with 15 blogger friends that I have. That I suppose is the catch. 


I am facing the same dilemma  as Priya who to leave out? Its like you have a party and leave out half your friends. 


 I hope you understand that in my own clumsy way I am trying to apologise the ones I have left out. Its not intentional just the "Houseful" board came up before it was meant to.


Before I add the names of the ones I would like to pass these awards to I am to share 7 things about myself.


1. My favourite celebrity chefs are Anjum Anand, Sanjeev Kapoor, Nigella Lawson!


2. My favourite movies are Hrikesh Mukhjee movies-- Chupke Chupke, Abhimann,Golmaal, Budha Mil Gaya...


3.Of course I love old Hindi movie songs, once that my daughters call "yucks" and Manna Dey is my favourite singer.


4. I love sweets, romantic novels.


5.My favourite colour is pink.


6. I have to remind myself that I graduated in Chemistry.


7. Last but most importantly husband is my best critic and friend!!


Now for the most difficult part 15 people to pass these awards too.


1.  Aipi from US Masala


2.Satya from My Inovative Kitchen


3. PJ from Seduce your Tastebuds


4. Smitha from Smitha's Spicy Flavours


5. Rachu from ammaandbaby


6.  Akheela from  Torview


7. Priya from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes 


8. Jay from Tasty Appetite


9.Deepa from hamaree rasoi 


10. Shilpa from Aayi's Recipes


11. Pari from Foodelicious


12. Umm Mymoonah from Taste of Pearl City


13. Cooking Foodie from 365 Days of Eating


14. Chaitrali from I-m not-a-Chef


15. Heather  from girlichef

Suran Gaddi/Suran/ Elephant's Foot Cutlets

As I wanted to try out the Shrivalli's ICC Challenge Gujarati Dal  I requested my husband to buy some suran gaddi in Kannada, suran in Marathi and elephant's foot in English. I did not mention the quantity so he brought a big huge one.

I did not make the daal but now was stuck with this foot. So I made something like pav bhajji --rejected. I vaguely remember Amma making it so well that it tasted like mutton but I cannot find the recipe. If
someone can  I would be grateful.

Now the major part of the thing I boiled with a little Kokum and salt and racking my brains as to what I should do with it.

I remembered reading in the newspaper about elephant’s foot, where the author had made some cutlets. This was ages ago and ingredient?? Ha-ha big joke.

Then I decided to wing it through as  at the most I will have to throw it out.

Ingredients:

1/2 kg boiled suran

4-5 flakes garlic

a handful of coriander

chilli powder (adjust as per taste)

salt

bread crumbs  or bread soaked in water and squeezed dry

2 tblspn besan or cornflour(optional)

3 tblspn rice flour( optional)

oil for frying

Method: 

1.      The first thing to do is when the suran is hot to mash the stuff as much as you can.  As I did not do this I had to use water to grind it down and hence I needed more bread since I did not have it I used cornflour and rice flour.

2.      Grind in the mixer the suran with garlic, coriander, salt and red chilli powder.

3.      Remove and add the bread crumbs, if yo are using rice flour and besan add the same and mix well to form a soft dough.

4.       I made them into longish small balls and shallow fried them. You can deep fry the also.

5.     Serve hot with sauce and green chutney.

The verdict--

Younger kid-- Mamma tastes like non veg food.

Older kid -- Mamma what have you made these look like croquettes that Stacy buys.

Hubby dear-- I want some more.

Friends in office -- Hey what have you brought? You brought them? Idiot don't you know what not to buy?

Me-- No I made them at home.

Friend-- What will this Bhattin (Brahmin woman) make? Give them here let us taste them.

All in all must try again.

Sending this to Torview's Food Pallet series Brown

Thanks to all friends

These are the culprits that started me blogging. 

 I mean I did not jump directly from these books to blogging,no,no  but they were the reasons, no culprits.

You I started on one diary to write down about my experiments with food midway I decide that it was not too well organised. So I started the new one with the idea that I will rewrite the version I have tried in the new book.

Some I wrote most I did not so I started hunting for the recipe in both the books generally with something burning in the process and me just churning out something that we had to eat. 

Like “Kabhi Dhoop kabhi Chaw” sometimes good sometimes … You get the idea!! :-o

So in 1997 when we brought  our first PC (an old second hand  286 I think it is called) , hubby dear by then too  sure that I will not improve told me to transfer some of my recipes to the PC. He did some and showed me how easy it was to retrieve the data. I was hooked. (PC’s were not in a big way in my organisation then).

From then we moved to newer PC ‘s .I learnt something new everyday.  I also learnt the hard way what happens when PC’s crash and you have no backup. 

About that time we had internet first the dialup then the broadband and my brother who is a techie told me to start a blog so I will never loose my recipes.

 The same time when I was telling my SIL (my husband’s sis) about how I made Batata Wadas out of left over rice she told me the same. Most important was that both of us wanted to save some part of their grannies for our daughters. Something they could fall back on and not be left wondering how to make something like mum.

This time I started blogging. I had heard so much about how the net is dangerous, never make online friends, how people are duped I never ventured out to make friend. Most of the posting that I did was as I have written in my books. Never ventured to take pictures of what I made plan simple this is how such a thing is made.

Brothers, you know what pest they can be, especially those younger than you by 11 years, was pestering me to post photographs and when I told him my fears he set about educating me about the net. Put my fears to rest. SIL (husband’s sis) presented me with a simpler camera, for I could not the one we had and I still use it. The rest is history!!

Now you are wondering why this speech. You see I was curious and wanted to see how many posts I have and was surprised to see that this is my 173^rd.

Any way a big thanks to all my friends here who 

have made me comfortable and answer all my silly questions patiently!!

Sweet Potato veggie(?)

As I have said that my husband had brought baby sweet potatoes a few got this makeover

and the rest ended up as thus.

Since there is no method or proportions to this madness just add what you feel will suit your taste.

Splutter mustard, jeera/ cumin seeds, methi/fenugreek in oil.

 Add the boiled sweet potatoes.

 Add salt, I used rock salt, pepper, dry mango powder, haldi, chili powder and stir till you get a nice aroma.

Serve garnished with coriander, tamarind chutney and dates chutney. (Since I had a stock out of both the chutney I served it garnished with coriander).

Toppings

Making something new everyday and the too something that every one enjoys!!

I just don’t know how to thank you my friends here, in the blogosphere, if that is a right word.   I am sorry that I did not venture out to make new friends all these years.

Anyway I made Toppings yesterday after a long time not that it is difficult but time consuming. You can use any thing right from cheese to chaat on the biscuits. I used boiled potato, forgot all about using cheese so later I used cheese spread.

Ingredients:

Monaco biscuits (Any salted ones will do I used Monaco for they are the size that my daughter eats with minimum fuss)

3 boiled potatoes, mashed

½ cups bread crumbs

Coriander

Green chilli paste (optional)

Salt

Method:

1.        Mix all the potato, bread crumbs, coriander, green chilli paste, salt and make soft dough.

2.       Make small marbles sized balls and flatten them.

3.        Layer Monaco biscuits with cheese spread.

4.        Place the flattened balls on the biscuits. Dot with ketchup.

5.         Grill for 3 minutes. (Optional).

6.        Serve immediately.

Chocolate Cake

Finally baked this cake the way it is supposed to be baked.

Goes to prove that you need not only a recipe but a good perfect mould and of course patience!! 

Ha ha!!

Cannot claim credit to the pictures or decoration or the topping. Kid did it thankfully took a picture of the cooling cake before she dug in.

Sweet Potato Chaat

After seeing all the chaat recipes that we posted for the 7-Day Blogging Marathon I wanted to eat Chaat desperately. Matters were not helpful at home because my kids were around and saw the pictures.  You get the big picture?

My husband who had travelled out of Panaji came home with a packet of sweet potatoes, rather baby sweet potatoes.

A few I cut into quartes and boiled in salt water. Decorated with Tamarind Chutney, Dates Chutney, red chilli powder and Chaat masala.

Have  a look.

Oats Chikki/Granola

Oats Chikki/granola

I had some muesli about which I had plans to convert to granola but postponing. As a result it started racing fast to it expiry date and now being on leave, I decided to do something to stem the rot.

The firs thing I did was heated it lightly in a kadhai to give it some crispness. Then I let it cool.

Meanwhile I got out my hoard of dry fruits after stealthy glance all around to see if anyone is watching me. Grab a few almonds; pistachios it does not matter how many will count later.

 At a leisurely pace I got out my cashew nuts, walnuts , raisins, groundnuts warmed them up too just to get rid of the raw  nutty ( I like the smell but I need to get rid of the moisture from them after storing them in the fridge).

In  Goa we get different kinds of cashew nuts right from the big ones whole, the ones split into two  or which is broken bits tukda kaju, to  the smallest bit Kani ,that can be directly used in Kheers no need to make smaller pieces . I generally buy this and use it for grinding into curries as they are cheapest and cost efficient.

Since I do not have good honey and was reluctant to use sugar I used chikki jaggery that is beckoning me everyday to do something different out of it.

These measure are by no means standard you can adjust as per taste, needs and budget.

To sum up I used:

Muesli  or rolled oats (about 500 grams)

 20 almonds,

15 pistachios

About cup full of Kaju kani

¼ cup raisins  

½ cup of groundnuts.

½ cup of roasted til/sesame seeds

I used 215 grms of this jaggery cut into small bits

½ cup of homemade ghee

Method:

1.       As I have already said warm everything right from the muesli to the nuts.

2.       When they cool down coarse grind.

3.       At this point of time I started wondering about the quantity of the ground mixture I had so I weighed it. It measured 750 grms I used   580 grams should have used only 500.

4.       In a thick kadhai add the ghee and jaggery.

5.       The jaggery will melt and start boiling. Test it to see if it has reached the hard ball stage. (A drop of jaggery in cold water should form a hard rock when pressed).

6.       Add the muesli 500 grams only or as much as much as needed to form 1 lump and mix and stir fast. Transfer to the kitchen platform and roll out to the ½ inch thick roti.  Cut when cool to desires size and shapes.

7.       Store in an airtight container.

I made the mistake of adding too much of muesli and so my granola/chikki  would not set.  So to rectify matters I transferred it to a tray and baked it at 230°C for 10minutes.

Karati Che Kismore

Karati Che Kismore

One of my favourite foods right from childhood has been bitter gourd. That’s right bitter gourd or karela as in Hindi, karla in Marathi and hagalkai in Kannada and Karati in Konkani.

 In fact I remember begging my Mama for his Neem paste when I was 4 or 5 years old. It used to be bitter and he was sure I was buttering him up for a ride on his bike. He applied the paste warned me to use it not just spit it out etc and watched with wide eyes as I did the needful.

Both my SIL bet with me to eat 1 slice of bitter gourd, raw. They did not know then that, “Cadbury ke liye kuch bhi karega”!

So I was thrilled when my elder daughter started eating the stuff. Besides my FIL is diabetic so this is made quite often.

This is a traditional Goan recipe and is called Karati che Kissmore. Kissmores are made out of dried prawns, papad and of course Karati.

There are no fixed proportions so I am just mentioning the ingredients.

Ingredients:

 Bitter gourd

Salt

Oil

 Onion

Coconut, freshly grated

Chilli powder

Haldi/turmeric powder

Chopped green chillies

Lemon juice

Sugar (optional)

Method:

1.       Wash and cut the bitter gourd into fine pieces .Add salt and let it marinate over night.

2.       In the morning add water to the bitter gourd and salt mix and squeeze out the liquid. It should be quite dry.

3.       In kadhai heat oil, add a little, say a tblspn of the squeezed bitter gourd and fry till crisp. Move to the side in the kadhai, add the next batch. The general idea it to fry the bitter gourd in minimum oil till crisp and brownish black.

4.       When all the bitter gourd is fried, add the onion stir, add the coconut and fry till the onion is well cooked.

5.       Add the haldi/turmeric, chilli powder, green chillies and mix well. Switch off the gas and squeeze the lime, sugar. Stir for some time or alternatively make a thin layer of the mixture in the hot kadhai. Let it cool. PLEASE DO NOT ADD SALT.

6.       Just before serving add the coriander.

Reposting For Events only

Re Posting for Paris Event 

Bread Pudding

Grilled Sandwich

Mushrooms in Pungent Sauce

Mushroom in pungent sauce

I love mushrooms I can eat them anytime of the day.


  There was one packet of button mushrooms lying in the fridge and since my kids will not eat today’s vegetable of “ghavada and vanga” I decided to make it today.

Now by the time I decided to make this mushroom I was tired and wanted to get out of the kitchen. So this had to be a zat pat recipe.

Ingredients:

200 gram mushrooms

1 tblspn flour (I used whole wheat)

2 tblspn of pungent sauce (one would have been enough)

1 tblspn olive oil

Method:

1.       Wash the mushrooms and pat dry.

2.       Cut in halves or quarters as you wish.

3.       Dust with the flour and keep aside for 5 minutes.

4.       In a thick kadhai add all the ingredients.

5.       Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

6.       Serve hot as an accompaniment with chapatti or rice.

Pungent Sauce

Pungent Sauce/ Chutney/Masala

For my daughter’s birthday had decided to serve Pasta with the usual tomato sauce and white sauce but knowing some of my friends I decided to serve a pungent sauce that I had accidentally stumbled upon.


 It so happened that I read about a coriander curry which called for lot of coriander, fried   red chillies(20 badgi)  and a lemon sized ball  tamarind.


 Being a big coriander fan I started it but half way through I realized that this was a flop recipe as far as family dear were concerned so I pulled the brake and considered my options.


Time – getting late need to get dressed to go to work.

Curry—not acceptable.
Throw away the mixture -no way. 


Then I remembered the Vietnamese Sate sauce and tried it out in my own way substituting the fish sauce with soya sauce.

1. So I crushed 20 cloves of garlic and put them to sizzle in about ½ cup oil.
2.  Meanwhile I ground up 5 onions in the mixer and added it to the whole lot. Stir fry till the oil comes out  then add the coriander curry and fry on the back burner stirring occasionally till the oil shimmers.
3. Then to cut down the pungent   I added more tamarind juice about 2 tblspn, 1 tblspn soya sauce  salt and   sugar.
4. Mixed well and added some chopped 4-5 green chillies  unfortunately these chillies were the local ones short dark green and in my hurry to clear all the clutter on the platform which was slowing me down I hit on the right recipe for a fiery sauce that I have no guts to replicate again.

Now when I make this sauce I use lesser chillies.

I make a batch of this sauce and freeze it. Then I cut into blocks about 1 inch square and use it occasionally when I am in hurry or when I am bored to cook.

The first time I made this sauce I used it on Stuffed Capsicum and it went well with the bland taste of the potato stuffing.

Sgroppino

 As I was reading Tarla Dalal's "Cooking &  More” I came across this drink!

 Non alcoholic and with  Strawberry Crush!

 It is served as a slushy cooler but I since my daughter has a running nose I decided to cut on the ice.

I modified it to suit our tastes and requirements.

Ingredients:

 Lemon juice from 5 lemons (about 100 ml)

3/4 cup sugar (please feel free to use more sugar if you need)

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ Strawberry crush

Method:

1.     Mix all the 3 ingredients and chill.

2.     Just before serving run the mixer with the whipper blade in the mixer.(so that all the strawberries are not crushed but you get this beautiful colour.

3.     Dilute to the required strength.

4.     Serve.

Sending this to Aipi's 

Subzi & Daal

 Daal & Subzi

1/3 cup of moong, toor and masoor daal each

½ tsp mustard

½ tsp jeera

Curry leaves

¼ tsp hing/asafoetida

1 green chilli, slit

1 onion, chopped

½ tsp garlic

½ tsp ginger

1 tomato, chopped fine

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp haldi

1 cup mixed veggies (I used cauliflower and peas)

1 tblspn oil

Water

Salt to taste

Coriander

Method:

1.       Wash the daals together and pressure cook till tender. Keep aside.

2.       Heat oil, add the mustard, jeera. When they crackle, add curry leaves and hing/asafetida.  And the chillies and onion and sauté till onion is soft and translucent.

3.       Add the ginger and garlic paste, tomato and cook under cover till the tomato is mashed totally.

4.       Add the chilli powder, haldi, mixed veggies. Mix well.

5.       Add the daals, salt and simmer for 10 minutes.

6.       Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Cabbage Fitters

Ever since I have seen cabbage fitters here I have been making them. 

So what is different today? Well today I have not added soda at all.  

This is an old tip that my hubby’s grandmother, Mai, passed on to me, I added cooked daal instead of soda. The fitters or bhaaji came out crisper and did not absorb oil.

           

Ingredients:

1 cup cabbage

Salt to taste

1 tsp Chilli powder (adjust as per taste)

 ½ tsp haldi powder

½ tsp Coriander powder

½ tsp jeera powder

Besan or chick pea flour

A lemon sized ball of daal

Oil for frying

Method:

1.       Mix the cabbage, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and coriander and jeera powder and let it rest for about ½ an hour. (I let it rest for about 3 hours).

2.       When you want to fry them add the daal, besan a tblspn of hot oil. Mix well.

3.       Adjust the seasoning and then drop the batter in small balls from a tsp in the hot oil carefully.

4.       Fry on low flame both sides till done, drain on absorbent paper.

5.        Serve hot with tomato sauce or as my daughters had with mustard.