CREAMY BREAD PUDDING WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE & PISTACHIO

Made it to Daily Special on Foodbuzz

This pudding is quiet different from the usual bread puddings. Its texture is gooey and soft with crunch from the pistachio only. It is an easy prep too.

Strictly follow the recipe or the pudding will not turn out well. I used an 8 inch square glass dish to set the pudding. So, adjust the ingredients according to your dish.

Also, be careful not to brown the bread while toasting it. It spoils the texture of the pudding.

Keep the sugar syrup thin. When you dip bread pieces in the syrup, don’t dip for very long. Just a small dip, take it out and slight squeeze between your palms. Happy cooking!

Ingredients:  (Serves- 8)

Bread- 10 pieces

Sugar syrup – ¼ cup sugar + ½ cup water boil into not very thick syrup

Evaporated milk – 160ml (Refrigerated)

Thick Cream/ full fat cream – 200gms

Whip cream- 2 cups

Vanilla extract- ½ teaspoon

Powdered sugar- ¼ cup (as per taste)

Pistachio flakes – 1cup

Chocolate syrup refrigerated

CITRUS CHICKEN WITH PEANUTS, APRICOT & MINT!

I was suppose to post this yesterday but got very little time and never could really sit down to write! Most of you must have tried or at least heard of chicken and apricot…well, I came across the apricot-chicken combination only very recently. Since, then it has been on my mind. This recipe just happened as I went in hunting down the refrigerator.

The question was what would taste good with apricot and chicken?? Well, a sauce with orange juice is what first came into my mind, next the crunch….nuts were on my mind…but which one…. Remembered a Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe that had chicken coated in peanuts. Mint just happen as I took some out to garnish tried eating a little with mint leaves and I was sure this dish would be unfinished without it.

Jasmine rice will make a great accompaniment for this dish. Or you could just have it as one dish meal. I did thatJ. Don’t go for bread though.

If you read on, you’ll find that I have not used any extra salt in the chicken except while marinating and salted peanuts. That would give enough flavour and you won’t need to use extra. Use freshly ground ginger for marinating chicken. ‘DON’T’ use store bought ginger paste. You can use olive oil instead of butter. Also, don’t opt out on the green chillies this time because the heat simply adds to the flavour. Strictly, use freshly made orange juice.

Oh! And by the way don’t throw the water you are soaking apricots in, we need that too J

NUTTY GLOBES – CASHEW & PEANUTS IN RICE CRISP!

A rustic sweet dish from Kerala….cashew and peanuts combined in “Jaggery”, coconut flakes and rice crisp. During harvest, women pick nuts from the cashew trees and bake them in mud ovens with the shell on. Coconut is shredded using the traditional ‘Cherave’ and jaggery is pounded and crushed. When the cashew nuts are ready, they too get crushed. All the ingredients are mixed into an even powder and made into balls, which are the size of eggs….actually even shaped like them….an oval shape rather than spherical. The earthly flavours of this dish gives you a taste of the bountiful ‘God’s own country’.

Since that is impossible for city dwellers like us…we shall use unflavoured roasted cashew and peanuts. If you can't find them in store, buy cashews and peanuts. Bake it at 240 degree C for 6 to 8 minutes in a preheated oven till goldenish colour. Remove skin and grind corsely. For those who can’t get jaggery, you can use brown sugar - tastes quiet similar.

RAISIN & LEMON PICKLED IN GARLIC ASSORTMENT!!

Look at that beauty...!!!

I have been eating this with breakfast, dinner and lunch from the last three days!! And I still am craving for it. Actually, my craze for pickles is quiet famous in the family. During my college years, vacations were mostly spent with my granny who always had a huge stock and variety of homemade pickles. Then, I used watch movies late night, snacking on PICKLES!! I hate store bought ones and rarely touch them, but give me a jar of homemade and I could literally lick it clean for you straight away. Guess, that’s enough of “pickle mania”. Let’s get to work!

Here, we are going to prepare a sweet, sour and hot pickle. The one thing you need to be very careful about is absolutely no water goes into the pickle or else fungi will eat it up before you do.  I would prefer using smaller garlic without having to halve it. And by the way, my lemons are straight from the backyardJ.

The putting together has a gap of 14 days in between, so I will list the ingredients in the same manner.

MEDITERRANEAN STYLE - FUSILLI WITH SAUSAGE CHUNKS & EGGPLANT

“The inspired me”…..I was watching an Italian dish- eggplants in penne pasta on tv yesterday when the cook in me suddenly woke up and struck the bell. “Ding, Dong!” I ran into the kitchen with my new found idea dwindling in my mind. The result, u got to try it to believe it. Pasta with tahini, eggplant and sausage chunks!! That’s not all. It’s garnished with fresh pomegranate seeds. Can’t explain the taste when all those stuff is tossed together. I wasn’t expecting such an awesome flavour but it couldn’t get better! This is “the one signature dish” from Mj’s kitchen. Mom said “Once more”, so it has to be hell too good!

 If I had the ingredients, I would have made kebabs instead of using sausages but Alas! Not all wishes come true J…I have used the large purplish black eggplants. I removed the skin before cooking but you can keep it if u like. Please do not wash the eggplants after dicing them, i promise you, it will ruin everything! Eggplants get soggy when you wash them after cutting and lets out water when you cook it, gets all mushy and sloppy. Here, we wana keep them firm and crunchy.

SOUR BROCCOLI & MUSHROOM SOUP with Garlic Bread!!

 

Hey, my little world….firstly apologies! I have been too busy from the past couple of days!! But today, I have a nice little magic soup to fulfill all your delicious but healthy cravings, accompanied by cheese topped garlic breadsJ.

Broccoli soups usually tend to get a little bland for me. So, I have added tomato for some zing in flavor and mushrooms to nibble into. Seasoning with onion does make a difference, so please don’t opt out on that.
Garlic bread, well I really don’t have much of a recipe to write for that. All I did was mash a clove of garlic in olive oil. Remove the garlic pieces. Season the bread with that oil, top it with mozzarella cheese and some finely chopped mint leaves (they go well!). Bake it for 10mins. Your accompaniment is ready. Now for the main dish….

LAMB ROAST in Garam Masala!

"Ingredients of garam masala will be updated soon"

A signature lamb roast....when I say signature, it’s not mine....its Aj’s signature dish. Yea, I never told you but he is a damn good cook especially with meat. It’s very simple to make. It has a heavy lamb flavour with other ingredients just lingering around. For lamb-lovers, this is definitely a treat. Here I have used green chillies but you can replace it with bell pepper which gives it a great smell and keep heat at bay. Keeping it short and sweet today due to lack of time J here the recipe....

Ingredients: (serves 4)

Lamb -1kg clean and cut into medium to small size pieces

Onion-4 medium sized finely sliced

Green chillies- 2 or 3 slit (optional)

Marinade:

Garam masala powder- 2 tablespoons (freshly ground preferred)

Cayenne pepper/Chilli powder- a pinch

Yogurt - 1 tablespoon

Limejuice- from 1 lime

White vinegar - 1teaspoon

Salt to taste

SIMPLE SEASONED CAULIFLOWER!!

I’m travelling tomorrow which is keeping me busy today, so here’s a quick post for all my lovely vegetarian friends. Made this when I was in a rush and had some boiled cauliflower leftover. It’s simple and can even be converted into a rice or pasta dish to make it wholesome!

Ingredients: (serves 2)

Cauliflower -2 cups diced

Onion- 1 diced

Ginger garlic paste - ½ tablespoon

Green chillies- 2 slit (optional as always)

Bell pepper/ capsicum- 1 diced

Olive oil - 1 tablespoon

Soya sauce- 1 tablespoon

Tomato ketchup - 2 tablespoon

Pepper - 1 teaspoon

Method:

1.       Cook cauliflower in water and salt for 5 to 8mins till just done. Don’t let it get mushy, keep the crunchy texture on.

2.       Sauté ginger garlic paste in olive oil till raw smell is gone.

3.       Add onion and green chillies. Stir for a minute.

4.       Now toss in cauliflower pieces and soya sauce. Mix well. Close lid and cook for 2 mins.

5.       Last add the ketchup and pepper. Toss mixture. Stir on high flame for a minute. And ready to go!

6.       Serve hot with rice/pasta/naan or just munch in for a healthy veggie delight.

BIRYANI - The king of Spices!! A photo tutorial.

How can I not post a biryani when it’s the king of spices.....well, I have been trying out biryani for a couple of years now. Aj adores biryani. It’s the first dish he would order in any Indian restaurant. For me, initially, getting the right flavour was very difficult, but as they say practise makes perfect J.

Now for some gyaan on biryani. Usually, there are 2 methods to cooking biryani- one is preparing the meat and rice separately and then mixing the two by means of dum, called pakki dum biryani. The second method is to cook the meat with the rice which is what I’m going to give you a demo of. This is called kachi dum biryani. What is “dum” - in authentic method the layered meat and rice were cooked by steaming over coals in a sealed container. Don’t worry, I will demo dum minus coal and almost sealedJ.

Biryani has a lot of varieties from Arabic to Hyderabadi to Malabar. The recipe here is for Malabar biryani. The highlight of this biryani is the rice used. We use kaima rice and not the regular basmati. This variation of basmati comes from the paddy fields lying low beside the Western Ghats in Kerala. But of course you can always use good ol’basmati. No issues there!

I’m cooking chicken but you can use the same recipe for lamb also with minor variations that I will mention in tips n tricks section.

If you have a hotplate, use that for dum process. For those like me who love the fire, heat a pan or tava and place the biryani vessel in that.

Btw, this would be my first official picture tutorial J Do temme how u liked it!!!

EDIBLE NESTS!!

Thanks everyone for voting me to the top 9 on FOODBUZZ.

Pistachio and vermicelli in condensed milk! That’s all what it takes to make this dish.....sort of a snack because it’s too crunchy for a dessert. When you choose vermicelli go for the extremely thin ones, they are crunchy but not hard. Raw taste won’t go off quickly in thick ones. So please, please, please buy very thin vermicelli.

Ingredients: (serves ...totally depends on how many u gobble down in one go!! J)

Very thin vermicelli- 200grams coarsely crumbled

Condensed milk- 4 to 5 tablespoon

Pistachio - 1 cup coarsely powdered and a few pieces for garnish

Butter- 2 tablespoon

TAMED BUTTON MUSHROOMS

Hehehe.... I know that’s a cheesy name but today’s find is soooo yummelicious that I can’t get brains to work on a decent name J well, if any bright names strike you while reading the post, drop in a comment and let me know....

If I love cheese first, mushrooms come second J so when I have a combination of the two how could I resist!!!

Ok, let’s get to the recipe- stuffed mushrooms with egg and cheese core. Actually, cheese topping also...hehehe..I still have some flavoured Gouda cheese left from the croquettes post, so the experimenting with cheese is on. This time we are stuffing mushrooms with scrambled egg, Gouda cheese and topping it with mozzarella for a finishing touch. In here the celery stick is a very important ingredient, so don’t opt out on that....it gives a perfect blend-in flavour to the mushrooms and egg. Green chillies are optional as always J I know, I know....I just can’t live without them....hehehe...they somehow make their way into every dish I make.

Finally, I also should admit that this is my first attempt on stuffed mushrooms...so did some googling and research before going for it. But as usual the recipe was born in my kitchen!!

SPICY LAMB CHOPS

Once again, a dedication to all the spice lovers out there...this one is such treat, I tell ya....n the interesting part is...it comes from my dad’s kitchen...Have to admit, he rarely cooks but when he does, you’ll lick your plates, I promise J....

If you like seasoning your curry, then use shallots, curry leaves and chopped coconut pieces in coconut oil for this one. Usually, there’s one potato which goes in with other ingredients. But, here I have kept it fully non-vegetarian J

Ingredients: (serves 4)

lamb chops - 8pieces cleansed

Onion- 5 medium sized finely sliced

Garlic- 9 cloves

Ginger- 1 piece (3 inches)

Tomato- 2 medium size sliced

Green chillies- 2 or 3 slit

Coriander powder- 3 teaspoons

Cayenne pepper/Chilli powder- 1 teaspoon (increase to 2 for more spicy)

Turmeric powder- 1 teaspoon

Cumin powder-1 teaspoon

Fennel seeds powder- ¼ teaspoon

Garam masala powder- ½ teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 bunch

Coconut oil - 2 tablespoon

Peppercorns- 5

Cinnamon stick- 3 pieces of 1 inch each

Clove- 4

Green cardamom- 2

Fenugreek seeds- 8

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except tomato in the cooking pot and marinate meat well in the mixture.

2. Now place the tomato slices over the mixture.

3. Close lid and place on high flame for 2mins. Then reduce the flame to minimum and let it cook till lamb is tender and fully cooked and gravy is well mixed. Once in a while open and stir.

4. Serve HOT hot with rice or roti.

CHILLI POTATO

Potatoes are always as much a pleasure cooking just as they are eating....such a versatile veggie....n I with the right preparation potato is the closest we can get to meat because they absorb flavours so well. Here’s an easy spicy potato dish. It can be served with rice or bread of your choice.

 Ingredients: (serves 4)

Potatoes - 3 medium diced (peeled if you don’t like the skin on)

Onion- 1 diced

Garlic finely chopped - ½ tablespoon

Ginger finely chopped - ½ tablespoon

Green chillies- 2 or 3 slit

Bell pepper/ capsicum- 1 diced

Onion stem - 1 bunch finely chopped

Olive oil 1 tablespoon

Chicken stock- 1 ½ cups (vegetable stock for vegetarians)

Corn starch- 1 teaspoon mixed in 2 tablespoon water

Soya sauce- 1 teaspoon

Tomato ketchup - 1 table spoon

Freshly ground pepper- 1 teaspoon

Sesame seeds- 1 teaspoon

Method:

1.       Heat 1 oil in a pan.

2.       Sauté ginger and garlic till raw smell is gone.

3.       Add onion and continue sautéing till it’s transparent.

4.       Next add green chillies and stir.

5.       Now toss in potato pieces, stir for a minute and then add the chicken stock. Close lid and cook till potato is fully done and water content is almost zero.

6.       Add bell pepper, soya sauce, pepper powder and tomato sauce. Stir for a minute. Mix well.

7.       Last add the corn starch and switch off flames.

8.       Garnish with onion stem and sesame seeds.

9.       Serve hot with pancakes/bread/roti/rice or even spaghetti.

REDELICIOUS MINT & GINGER SOUP - A NUTRITIOUS TREAT!

Thanks everyone for voting me to the top 9 on FOODBUZZ.

Made it to Daily Special on Foodbuzz

 Soup is a purrrfect dish to bid adieu to autumn and welcome the winter....this was a part of our dinner when I made the Tuna n cheese croquettes posted earlier. Ginger, mint, French beans, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, celery...one hell of a healthy treat I tell u!!!    

Ingredients: (serves - 4)

1.       Cauliflower - 4 to 5 branches

2.       Carrot - 1 whole peeled

3.       French beans - 9 to 10 whole

4.       Tomato - 1 large or 2 medium

5.       Mint leaves- 5 sprigs (use only leaves)

6.       Vegetable stock- 2 cups

7.       Garlic powder- a pinch (optional)

8.       Butter -2 table spoon

9.       Celery stick - ½ chopped finely

10.   Ginger - 2 inches piece cut into very thin strands

11.   Ground pepper- 1 teaspoon

12.   Red chilli flakes- ½ teaspoon(strictly for spice lover only)

13.   Fresh cream - 1 dollop(optional)

14.   Spring onion/ onion stems- one bunch(finely chopped)

15.   Salt to taste

Method:

1.    Dice ingredients 1 to 4. Add mint, veggie stock, garlic powder and boil till everything is fully cooked. Add water if necessary.


BROTH

2.   Then mash mixture just a bit. Remove large chunks and puree. Leave small pieces in the broth as in picture below. But remove all the mint leaves for pureeing.



vegetables getting ready to puree!

3.   Add puree to broth and get it back on the flames (on very low). Now add cream, pepper and mix. Off the flame.

4.   In a pan, melt butter add ginger stands and chilli flakes. Wait for a few seconds and add celery. Then sauté for a minute. Pour into the soup and mix well.

5.   Garnish with onion stems and serve hot with your favourite accompaniment.

Baked cheesy Tuna Croquettes

It’s Cheese timeJ. Gouda cheese....flavoured with garlic and herbs. Sounds yummy?? Traditionally, croquettes are deep fried, but the new world calls for a healthy diet...so we’ll bake them.

I used fresh tuna so had a messy time and smelly palms by the end. You can use canned tuna. In this case start form Step 3. In step 5 add cayenne pepper and turmeric, cook well, add garam masala powder and finally add tuna.

Ingredients: (serves 6)

Fresh Tuna- 1/2 kg cut and clean

Potatoes - 2 medium size boiled and peeled

Gouda cheese (garlic and herbs flavour) - grated 1 cup

Oil- 1 tablespoon

Onion- 2 or 3 medium sized finely chopped

Garlic and Ginger paste - 2 tablespoon coarsely ground

Green chillies- 3 finely chopped

Cayenne pepper/Chilli powder- ¾ tablespoon

Turmeric powder- ½ tablespoon

Water - 2 cups

Garam masala powder- 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs finely chopped

Egg- 1

Bread crumbs for coating the croquettes

Salt to taste

Method:

1.       Cook tuna with salt, chilli and turmeric powders in water.

2.       Remove the skin, debone the tuna and shred it.

3.       Heat oil in pan.

4.       Sauté onions till transparent.

5.       Add ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and green chillies continue sautéing till the mixture is well cooked. Finally add garam masala powder and stir. Mixture is shown in picture below.

6.       Now add this mixture and potatoes to tuna, mash well and evenly mix it. Check salt and add if necessary. But don’t overdo the salt because the cheese has strong flavours.

7.       Now take a medium sized lump(size of an egg) in your palm, roll it and flatten it into a circle’ish’ shape(forgive me for that usage, dint really know how to express it rite J). Now put one teaspoon grated cheese in the centre and cover it up. Make into a fine oval shape.

8.       Beat egg and dip the croquettes one by one and then roll in bread crumbs. They would look like this just before going into the oven.

9.       Preheat oven to 210⁰C.

10.   Spread a thin layer of oil in your baking tray and place croquettes.

11.   Bake for 10mins then turn side and bake again for 8 to 10mins till light golden brown.

12.   Serve hot and cheesy... J

STIR FRIED NOODLES!!!

How much I love Chinese....lol...a sudden change of dinner plans(in my mind) led me to cooking this up...I was out of onions and onion sticks...as usual you have to forget something when you go grocery shopping without a list J. I have used shallots and cilantro instead...the flavours came out great...try it unless you like it old fashioned....

Ingredients: (serves -3)

Whole wheat noodles - 1 bowl

Olive oil/ canola oil - 3 tablespoon

Coarsely ground Garlic and Ginger- 1 tablespoon each

Green chillies- 2 (optional - strictly for spice lovers)

Vegetables of your choice julienned - 1 cup

Chicken fillets- 2 shredded

Beef chunks shredded- 1 cup (I used canned precooked ones)

Chicken stock - 1 cup

Soya sauce - 1 tablespoon

Freshly Ground pepper - 1 tablespoon

Egg -2 scrambled

Cilantro - 1 sprig chopped

Shallots - 6 to 7 roughly chopped

Method:

1.       Boil noodles, drain and keep aside.

2.       Heat oil in a large pan.

3.       Mix chicken, little pepper and ginger garlic paste. Toss into pan and sautéing till chicken cooks.

4.       Add beef and stir till colour changes.

5.       Now stir in the veggies.

6.       Keep on high flame and add chicken stock.

7.       When stock is almost evaporated, move mixture in pan to a side and pour 2 beaten eggs in. Scramble it and mix.

8.       Add soya sauce. Mix all ingredients well on a high flame. Add more soya sauce if salt content is less than desired.

9.       Now add cilantro and noodles.

10.   Stir, stir and stir on a high flame.

11.   Serve hot...and you won’t even remember what they call accompaniments J

Tips n Tricks:

·         Don’t overcook the noodles please.

·         Don’t dry off the moisture in the mixture too much before adding the noodles.

Tandoor Gobi(Cauliflower)

I tasted this dish at one of the local restaurants...n straight away fell in love with it...Simple to create, totally oil free and beautifully flavoursome would be my description for it.

Ingredients: (serves 4 to 5)

1/2 bunch cauliflower

1 onion diced

1/2 bell pepper diced

1 tomato thickly sliced

For marinating:

2 tablespoons hung curd

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper/ chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon cream

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1.      Wash and cut cauliflower into medium size pieces.

2.      Boil in salted water for 3 to 4 mins with lid on

3.      Mix items for marinating into a fine paste.

4.      Marinate cauliflower pieces and vegetables in the mixture

5.      Grill it for 8 to 10 minutes till moisture from marinade is almost gone.

6.      Garnish with yogurt or butter and serve!

GARLICKY CHICKEN PIZZA

Finally, I have a bake for my blog...Pizza - the one dish we all need to thank Italia for. The name automatically invokes hunger in me...the feel of melted cheese in your mouth...its heavenly!!

Here, I have used chicken strips and beef sausages for topping. You have all the choice in the world when it comes to topping up yours. So by all means don’t stick to the recipeJ.

I baked it in my microwave oven on convection mode. Directions are also for the same. It will vary for ovens. Usually ovens take lesser time.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

Dough:

All purpose flour- 2 ½ cups

Milk- ½ cup

Sugar- 1 tablespoon

Salt- ½ teaspoon

Egg - 1

Dry active Yeast - 1 teaspoon

Olive oil - tablespoon

Topping:

Mozzarella cheese shredded - 2 cups

Boneless Chicken fillet -2 cut into thin strips

Beef sausages - 3 boiled and chopped

Pizza sauce- 3 tablespoon

Bell pepper - ½ sliced

Onion- 1 sliced

Tomato

Ground pepper - 1 teaspoon

Dried oregano - a pinch

Olive oil

Marinade for chicken:

Garlic paste- 1 ½ tablespoon freshly ground

Lime juice - from 1 whole lime

Ground pepper- 1 teaspoon

Method:

1.       In a small bowl take 2 tablespoon lukewarm water and put the yeast in. Cover with a lid and keep aside for few mins till the yeast particles start accumulating on top of the water.

2.       Mix flour, salt, sugar, olive oil and egg with a fork. Then add milk and yeast and knead dough for a few mins till it is smooth. Cover with a wet kitchen towel and keep aside for 2 or 3 hours. When dough expands to double the size, punch to eliminate air gaps formed while rising.

3.       Mix chicken in marinade.

4.       Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan and toss in chicken. Stir fry till chicken is cooked. Be careful not to overdo it.

Chicken would look like this:

5.       Prepare the pizza pan or whatever pan you choose to bake in. Coat a thin layer of olive oil on it. Spread the dough evenly in it.

6.       Top it with the pizza sauce, onions, chicken, sausage and bell pepper. Bake at 210⁰C for 15mins.

7.       Now, spread the cheese and tomatoes. Sprinkle pepper and oregano. Bake at 200⁰C for 15mins more.

8.       And serve with your favourite accompaniment!