Fruit-Cake icecream

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups heavy cream

1 can of condensed milk 

Any Cake/Brownies/Cheesecake brownies

1/2 cup chopped strawberries/Raspberries/Any fruit of your choice

Pistachios or any nuts of your choice to garnish

HOW TO MAKE:

1) Whip the cream till stiff peaks are formed.

2) Mix rest of the ingredients with condensed milk. Lightly fold in the cream with condensed milk.

3) Store in an airtight 2 liters container and freeze up to 6 hours or until firm. Garnish with pistachios or other nuts.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  This recipe can be made in many other ways also. You can also use jellys/jams of any flavour. Decorate in layers or use fruits of your choice instead of berries.

Almonds Kheer

INGREDIENTS:

25 Almonds
1 litre Milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cardomom powder
1 tsp rose water
5 pistachios crushed coarsely
5-10 strands saffron soaked in 1 tsp warn milk

HOW TO MAKE:

1) Soak almonds for 20 minutes in hot water.

2) Peel the skin of the almonds & grind them into a paste with 1/2 cup water.

3)In a heavy pan, bring the milk to boil. Add the almond paste and stir continously till the mixture is semi solid.

4) Add sugar, cardomom, rose water & saffron. Cook for 2 minutes.

5) Garnish with the pistachios. Serve hot or chilled.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  You can also add some pistachios along with the almonds to make a paste in step 2. This helps to enhance the flavour.

Rocking 100th - A Milestone achieved

You just cant imagine how thrilled I am to put down this post - what I can call as a miraculous milepost. I know its been a long way to reach my 100th post for this blog, but I feel proud to state that this journey has been truly inspirational, heartening,enlightening & sprinkled with lots of wonderful memories all over. And somewhere along the track I found plenty of oppurtunities to shake hands with the illuminating insight of the blogging world.


Yes, Its time to celebrate now ..... and its time to look forward for more milestones & to conserve the momentum with the sky being the ultimate limit.

Being a part of a large community in the blogosphere it is quite interesting to find lots of other bloggers who are always friendly, inviting, creative, engaging, and interesting - who have directly or indirectly enlivened me to a large extent & have filled that void for me. Infact by no stretch of  imagination had I ever realised about the infinite bounties that the blog world would offer. From being the curator of a blog to developing a virtual community of readership on a social platform, blogging has empowered me to hone my skills & has bestowed upon me a genuine camaraderie & the privilege to reach out to audience across the world. I still haven’t quite got the hang of reaching this milestone.

The Experience:

This blog grew out of a search for direction. Food was obviously the Buzzword, Betterment my mantra. With a lot of happenings around, I realised that a blog could be the best way to relieve oneself from burdening the mind. Blogging helped me a lot in soothing my jammimg mind.

 It has taken me a long time to really settle into my writing and figure out what kind of blogger I want to be. When I started out, I thought I’d only write about food. But I gradually began to expand my posts to more diversifying topics. My major intention was to refrain from leaving my blog with long periods of drought where I am just not sure on what to write and to deviate away from my theme.


If I’ve learned anything after a year of blogging it is to write your heart out. Also, I’ve abandoned the notion of just sticking to food related topics always in my topics in favor of allowing my blog to be an expressive space where I can talk about anything,any time. If you are passionate about your topics, you will surely find your way.

After taking a quick tour of my blog, I observed that almost 30% of my posts have been a mashup of lore, opinion, and my lifestyle, all of which take me little time to draft and publish them. Neverthless, I loved every minute of writing them & today whatever this space has bestwoed upon me is priceless & alluring.

So to all my blog readers, I whole heartedly thank you one & all who are reading these words for enriching my world and I look forward to your continous support & encouragement always. As my exciting journey is in progress, I whole heartedly & sincerely wish to enhance my skills, streamline my future aspirations & elevate this blog to the core.

Vegetable Cutlets

INGREDIENTS:

Potato - 2 big sized

Other mixed veggies - 1/4 cup (carrots finely chopped & peas)

Onions - 1/2 chopped finely

Bread - 1 slice

Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup

Ginger garlic paste -1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Chaat masala - 1 tsp

Coriander leaves,chopped - 2 tblsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Maida (All purpose flour)- 1 tbsp

Salt - as required

Egg - 1 (Beaten)

Oil - As required for deep frying / toasting

HOW TO MAKE:

1)   Pressure cook the veggies with required amount of water until soft.

2)  Peel off the skin of potatos and mash it well and add it to other veggies, add finely chopped onions too. Crumble the bread with your hands and add the bread to the veggies. Mix well.

3) Add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, required salt and coriander leaves to the veggies with bread. Add lemon juice and mix well to form a dough.

4) Make equal sized round balls and slighly press it between your palms to make it flat.Keep aside.

5)  Now in a seperate plate, mix maida and water to form a thick paste. Now dip each cutlet in the paste,then in the beaten egg and roll over the bread crumbs such that both sides are coated well with breadcrumbs.Repeat the same for all other cutlets too.

7) Deep fry them or shallow fry the cutlets till crispy.

  

8) Serve the cutlets hot with tomato sauce.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  Mash the potatoes finely before making the patties so that they do not break while frying.

Vegetable Upma

INGREDIENTS:

Semolina/Sooji - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Oil - 3 tbsp
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (carrot, peas, beans - chopped in any desired shape)
Onion - 1 sliced
Garlic - 1 pod (optional)
Curry leaves - a few
Ginger chopped - 1/2 tsp
Green chilli - 1 (Chopped))
Hing (Asafoetida) - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urud Dal - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - to garnish
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, urud dal, hing, green chilli and ginger.When mustard seeds crackle, add garlic and mixed veggies.

2)  Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder and fry till the veggies turn soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

3)  In the same pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Fry semolina on low flame till it turns light golden .

4)  Simultaneously, bring water to rolling boil in another vessel.

5)  When semolina turns light golden brown, add the veggies. Pour water gradually and stir continuously. Add salt if needed. Simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

6)  Squeeze lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  Stir in the semolina evenly while adding the boiling water to avoid lumps being formed.
**  Roast the semolina only till light golden color. If over roasted, the taste changes.

Brinjal Chutney

 

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 Kg Brinjal
100 gms peanuts (roasted)
4 small tomatoes(ground)
5 Dry red chillies
1 tsp raosted whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 pod garlic
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 Onion sliced
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp oil
1 small ball tamarind (soaked in water)
2 tsp Vinegar (White)

HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Roast together the dry red chillies, cumin seeds, sesame seeds. Grind the peanuts and the other roasted ingredients with the garlic, turmeric powder & coriander powder. Marinate the brinjal (chopped lengthwise)  with this mixture and keep aside.

2)  Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the onion and the marinated brinjal and fry till the colour of the brinjal changes. Remove the brinjal pieces seperately from this and keep aside.

3)  Add the tomato, tamarind water and the remaining roasted spices mixture and cook till oil comes up.

4) Add the brinjal and allow it to cook for 5 more minutes. Switch off stove and allow it to cool. Add 2 spoons vinegar to this after it is cooled.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  Do not overcook the brinjals. Once they are soft, you can switch off the stove.

**  Roast the spices only till light golden color. If over roasted, their taste changes.

Chicken Corn Soup

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups water
2-3 single chicken breast
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 small garlic flakes crushed
1 tbsp cornflour
1/4 Cup corn kernels, rinsed, drained
6 green shallots, ends trimmed, thinly sliced diagonally
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Lemon juice/white vinegar
1 tsp Oil / Butter
3 tsp Chicken stock powder (optional)

HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Bring together the water,chicken stock,corn and chicken to boil. Allow the chicken to simmer in the water till chicken is very soft.

2)  When the chicken is very soft and can be easily torn apart, switch off the stove and separate the chicken stock, corn & the chicken pieces. Cool the Chicken pieces and shred them finely.

3) Heat Oil / Butter in a saucepan, add the shallots and the grated ginger,crushed garlic flakes. Add the Chicken stock-corn water-shredded chicken and bring to boil.

4)  When the water is boiling, add the cornflour which is mixed with 1/4 cup of cold water in a bowl. Stir gently, add the soya sauce, salt, pepper powder.

5)  When the mixture reached soup consistency, switch off stove and sprinkle the lemon juice, sprinkle some pepper powder and serve hot in soup bowls.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  To enhance the flavour, you can also add some chicken soup powder in step 4 (instead of cornflour).

Fish in tomato gravy

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Kg fish
1/4 Kg tomato
1 big onion
2 sprigs curry leaves
4 green chillies
1 tbsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 pinch garam masala
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt
2 tbsp oil

HOW TO MAKE:

1) Chop the tomatoes into half. Remove the seeds from it and grind the tomatoes to a thick paste.

2) Slice the onions and keep aside.

3) Heat oil in a pan, fry the onions & the curry leaves. Then add the green chillies. Fry them for a minute and add the coriander powder,red chilli powder, garam masala powder & the cumin powder.

4) Let the spice powders mix well with the onions well. Start adding the fish pieces slowly to this mix. You will find the fish pieces gradually changing in color. Coat the fish pieces with the gravy and remove each of the fish piece and place in a plate so that the rest of the gravy can cook.(This is done so that the fish doesn't break away).

 5) Add the ground tomato to the gravy and cook till the gravy thickens. When you see oil coming up, add the fish pieces back & the green chillies and allow to get mixed with the gravy. 

6) Let the gravy simmer on low heat for 2-3 minutes before switching off the stove. Add some lemon juice just before serving.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  Care should be taken so that the fish pieces do not break. You can use any type of fish for this recipe.

Coconut Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

500 gms Flour
600 gms powdered sugar
350 gms ghee (clarified butter)
50-100 gms grated dessicated coconut
2 eggs

HOW TO MAKE:

1) Mix sugar and ghee well till you see the mixture very smooth.

2) Gradually add Flour to this and mix well.

3) Add the beaten eggs & coconut and mix well. 

4) Make small patties & place on a baking tray.

5) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake the cookies till done (slightly golden).
  

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  Adding more flour will result in hard cookies. So need to be careful with the flour quantity.