Don't miss the printout of a recipe and some more scribbled ones on the fridge :)
At the same time, I am looking forward to going back to *our own* kitchen in Pune, which my husband and I designed to suit our needs. The only thing that I won't have in that kitchen is this view.
Oh yes, the muffin does have a surprise inside. If you have read the title of the post, then you certainly know what exactly is inside. :) What you don't know, though, is the other surprise this post has got for you. Well, it's not a surprise really; it's more of a news. And the news is that we are moving back to Pune, India. We had it on our minds since June this year. Then we slowly started working towards it, and now it's already time to pack bags. Literally, because we are scheduled to leave Germany in a week's time. That's soon, isn't it?
Right now, we are in the process of winding up here. Selling/Giving away the stuff that we can't take with us. (If you are reading this and are in the Düsseldorf area, please drop me an e-mail. I am sure you can make use of many things that I have.)
As far as my kitchen is concerned, I am trying my best to use up the stuff, so that I don't have to throw it away. Which is also why my posts these days have different combinations and at times weird recipes. These muffins also had a few diverse ingredients (which weren't there in the original recipe) going into it. For example, semolina. You'll know more when you read the recipe.
I found the original recipe in a 'Cake Special' issue of this German magazine. I was anyway keen on trying it out, and that's when Alanna announced the theme for Sugar High Friday 23: Surprise Inside! When I read the theme, I knew I HAD to make these. Actually, this recipe, with the jam in it, also has a sort of hangover of the previous SHF i.e. No. 22.
In case you are not one of those, who scrolled straight down to see what's inside the muffin, then here's one picture for you. :)
Recipe for Jam-in-the-hole Muffins (The original has a boring name: Breakfast Muffins. Yawn.)
Makes 12.
Ingredients:
280g. all-purpose flour/ Maida (I used a combination of flour, cornflour and extra-fine semolina 1)
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda /sodium bicarbonate
a pinch of salt
8g. or about 2 tsp vanilla sugar
60g. butter
1 egg
300g. plain yogurt (That is two of these yogurt cups.)
5 tbsp milk
12 tsp any jam (The original asks for Strawberry Jam. I used one with red currants made by me at home using this recipe by Ulrike.)
Store-bought blanched, slivered almonds for decoration (optional; I used)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla sugar to it. (In case you want to use vanilla essence, add it at Step 4.)
3. Melt the butter on gentle heat until just liquidy. I did this in the microwave, in a glass bowl which I later used for mixing the batter. (Economic use of vessels!) Let the melted butter cool a little.
4. Then beat the butter and egg until frothy. You could use your electric beater for this; I didn't. :) To this, add the yogurt and milk.
5. Add the flour mixture to this and stir until just mixed. Let's not forget that these are muffins and not a cake. Which means that you need not use your electric beater here. Just a (wooden) spoon is fine.
6. Line the moulds in the muffin pan with paper cups. I did not do it, and ended up with a few scratches on the pan while unmoulding the muffins. :(
7. Distribute half of the batter in the cups. Place a teaspoonful of the jam on it. Like so.
8. Distribute the rest of the batter on top and even it out. If using slivered almonds, place them on top of the batter now.
9. Bake in the pre-heated oven on the second rack from below for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
10. Then take the muffin pan out of the oven and let it cool (preferably on a cooling rack) for 15 minutes.
11. Then unmould the muffins gently and let them cool further on the cooling rack.
Enjoy the muffins with a glass of milk, if you like. Perfect for brunch. Or as an after-school treat for children. Please make sure that you store them under lock and key, though, because they disappear fast. Here's proof. :)
Notes:
1. Sorry, I cannot give you the measurement of the flour in cups because I did not have enough flour. I used cornflour and extra-fine semolina as well. I just made sure that all of it together weighed 280 grams. Why did I use different flours? See, this is why you shouldn't have scrolled down straight to the second picture without having read the introduction. :)
2. We call the extra-fine semolina 'Zero number Rawa' in Maharashtra. Elsewhere too?
Cornmeal Idlis served with No-Coconut Chutney (green) by Asha &
Peanut-Onion Chutney (brown) by Latha
You guessed it right!!! Are you smart or are you smart?! It is indeed coarse cornmeal or Polenta or Makai ka Rawa. I was sooooo sure that it was hard to guess. (Meaning: I would have never guessed it right, had this been a guessing game on someone else's blog.) Well, I underestimated you, Darlings. :)
The recipe is quite simple. I just followed a recipe for Urad Dal-Semolina/Rawa idli that I have got from my mother-in-law. Why did I use Polenta then? Well, I bought it a few months back because I wanted to try making (guess what!) Polenta, the Italian staple. Somewhere down the lane, I totally forgot about it. When I found the pack of Polenta again, I just instinctively wanted to make Idlis with it. (This happens just too often to me, don't you think?) So, Idlis is what I made with them. Here's how.
Recipe for Polenta Idlis (Or Rawa Idlis, for that matter)
Serves 4. (No point in giving the number of Idlis here. As you can see, mine are the 'giant' versions.)
Ingredients:
1 cup Urad Dal
2 cups Polenta (or wheat Rawa/ semolina)
1/2 tsp Methi/ fenugreek seeds (optional; I always use)
water, as required
salt to taste
Method:
1. Soak the Urad Dal and Methi seeds (if using) in water for approx. 8 hours or till a point, where you see tiny bubbles on the water (and the Urad Dal starts giving a slightly unpleasant smell).
2. Then grind it to a fine paste. By fine I really mean fine. Leave it again to ferment; overnight, if you plan to make Idlis for breakfast the following morning. If you are left with some of the water in which the Urad Dal was soaked, keep it aside too. It will be useful in making the batter thinner, once the Polenta/Rawa is added.
3. In a piece of cloth as big as a handkerchief, tie the Polenta or Rawa in a bundle. Put this bundle in a vessel and steam it in your pressure-cooker / steamer for about 15 minutes. Like so.
Steamed Polenta
4. Take the bundle out and let it cool. Once cool, add it to the fermented Urad Dal batter. Add salt and mix well. The batter should be the consistensy of Milkmaid condensed milk. (Do you Guys think of another equivalent?) If the batter is too thick, add the Urad Dal water that you have kept aside the earlier evening.
5. Oil the Idli stand/cups in which you want to make Idlis. I usually use steel bowls/Katori (Hindi)/Vaatya (Marathi) because I don't have my Idli stand here. You can see those bowls here and here.
6. Steam the batter in a pressure cooker/steamer for 10 minutes. Take the stand/bowls out and wait for about five minutes. This makes unmoulding them easier.
Unmould Idlis and serve warm with chutney or Sambar. As you can see in the caption for the first photograph, I served them with two chutneys blogged by Asha and Latha.
I would like to send this post to Nandita's Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Let's see what she says. :)
Tags: Polenta, Rawa, Semolina, Cream of wheat, Idli, Rava, Idly, Breakfast, Snacks, South Indian, Low-fat, Low-cal
This kitchen tool is my latest kitchen acquisition. It helps you drain water from the pan after you cook 'Pasta'. What you do is that you hold it at the upper rim of the pan as though it were the lid. The *wings* on its two sides help you hold it with the handle grips of the pan. You hold the pan and the perforated *lid* on the sink, as away from you as possible, and then drain the water. Which also means that you do not have to use a colander for that job. The pasta can stay in the same pan in which it was cooked. Isn't it handy?
Since it is so good, I put it to use immediately as well as frequently and made a few dishes with pasta, which will feature here in the next few weeks. Today is the lucky(!) day for
Spinach Tagliatelle with Ricotta & Mushrooms
(I found the original recipe in German here.)
Serves 2-3.
Ingredients:
250g. Ricotta Cheese
300g. Tagliatelle (I used the ones with spinach. You could use plain noodles too.)
200g. mushrooms, sliced thin
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 tbsp olive oil
Parsley or any other herb (I didn't use any.)
1 tbsp tomato paste (optional; not in the original recipe)
about 1/4 cup milk (I used white wine instead. Hic.)
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Take approx. 3 litres of water in a pan and put it to boil. Add a little salt to it. (I often add a vegetable stock cube instead; that gives the pasta some more taste of its own.) Once the water starts boiling, add the pasta and cook on high heat. The time taken to cook the pasta 'al dente' is normally written on the pack.
2. In the meanwhile, heat oil in a pan. Sauté the chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms in it.
3. Stir the Ricotta cheese with the milk/wine to make it smooth and slightly thinner. Pour it over the mushrooms. Add the tomato paste, if you like. I add it to give the sauce a nice tang.
4. Add salt and pepper to it and cook on very low heat. If using any herb, add it now.
5. By now the Tagliatelle should be cooked. Drain the water from it. (This is where my new baby comes in handy. :))
6. Serve the cooked Tagliatelle onto individual plates. Pour the creamy Ricotta sauce over it. Sprinkle some more pepper over it, if you like.
Serve with a salad on the side.
Green Tagliatelle with Ricotta & Mushrooms
(By the way, I bought the tool and also took the photographs in this post before I got my new camera. So, the pictures aren't as great as I'd love them to be. Clicking them all over again could have been an option, but I am too lazy for that. :( )
And no, this post isn't being sent to any event. Isn't that strange?
Pumpkin Walnut Cake
Did you know that pumpkin is a berry? The largest berry, actually. I didn't know that until I started looking for more information on pumpkins. Why did I look for more information? Because Meeta has chosen it as the theme for this month's From My Rasoi. A very apt theme for the month of September, isn't it? (Having said that, I must mention again that pumpkins are available in India throughout the year and not just around Halloween.)
What I learnt more about pumpkins is that they were around even 12000 years ago, and were very much a part of man's diet in the Ice Age. They are supposed to have originated in South America. (Which makes me think that every second fruit or vegetable that I know has its roots in the Americas. What in the world did our ancestors eat before the 'New Land' was discovered?)
Also, how did they make many of the Indian string instruments before that? If I am not wrong, it is dried pumpkins that they use in making them. e.g. Sitar or Veena. Actually, the main chamber in them is called 'Bhopla' in Marathi or 'Kaddu' in Hindi. Both are words for pumpkin in those languages. That asks for another 'Google search', I guess. :)
Hokkaido pumpkins
As for today's recipe, I didn't really have to do a 'search' for it. Because I found it in a German cookbook that I had borrowed from the library, after I saw the first pumpkins in the markets here. :) This book is dedicated to only pumpkins, squashes and melons. All from the same family. Some of the recipes in this book looked far-fetched to me; maybe included only to make the list of recipes longer. For example, Melon Soup with Pesto. Doesn't sound too great to me. I am happy eating melons as they are.
However, this recipe with pumpkin and walnuts turned out wonderful. And what aroma...ummmm...! By the way, I used a Hokkaido pumpkin for it. As you can see in the pictures in this post, the skin as well as flesh are bright orange. Which indicates high carotene content. That is also the reason why they are preferred in making bottled baby food. Apart from the sweet and nutty taste, of course. The name of this variety hints at its Japanese roots. However, I haven't managed to find out more about its origin. Maybe one of you knows?
Recipe for Pumpkin Walnut Cake
Makes a fairly large cake. (Mine weighed 870 grams.)
Ingredients:
300g. or 4 loosely packed cups grated pumpkin
75g. or 3/4 cup powdered walnuts
1 egg
100 ml. or 1/3 cup oil (I used sunflower oil.)
250g. or 2½ cups all-purpose flour/Maida (I used 150g. flour and 100g. cornflour. Only because I wanted to use up the rapidly-aging cornflour.)
200g. or heaped 3/4 cup sugar (I used soft brown sugar. For the same reason as above. :))
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered cinnamon (I used store-bought.)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 heaped tsp baking powder
butter/oil to grease the mould (I didn't use any. It's a silicone mould.)
powdered/icing sugar for dusting (optional)
Clockwise from top left: silicone Bundt mould,
batter for cake getting ready, grated pumpkin waiting to be a part of the batter :)
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a cake mould and keep aside.
2. Separate the egg : the egg white into a small bowl and the yolk into a bigger bowl, which you will also use for mixing the batter. If you are not confident of separating the egg only with your hands, you might want to invest in a separator, like Shammi.
3. Stir the egg yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar, oil and cinnamon until mixed well. Add the grated pumpkin and stir again.
4. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl. Then add the powdered walnuts to it. Stir the batter well to mix all ingredients.
5. With an electric beater, beat the egg white to resemble firm snow. Like so.
6. Add this 'egg snow' to to the batter and stir gently.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake mould and bake for about 50 minutes. The cake is ready when a knife or skewer inserted in the middle of it comes out clean. (You don't really have to think to write this sentence, do you? :))
8. Once the cake is done, turn off the oven (Duh!) and take out the mould. Let the cake cool in it for 10 minutes.
9. Then unmould it onto a cooling wire rack. Once cooled, you could dust it with some icing sugar. I too did after taking the photograph. :)
Make this for you Halloween party and see all *ghosts* gathering around the table. ;-)
In the meanwhile, I'll go call Meeta to have a look at it. :)
I bought some Urad dal flour back in January. I bought it because I had read a recipe then, which required it. After some days, when I again saw the recipe to make that dish, I realised that I didn't really fancy making it. (Does this happen to you too?) As a result, the Urad dal flour stayed in the pack, unopened, at the back of the cabinet...until I saw it again, when I emptied the cabinet to clean it thoroughly. This time I was determined to use it, and started looking for recipes on the net.
This thing called the internet is perhaps one of the best things to have happened to mankind in the recent years. (Now that was a 'pearl of wisdom', Maa Vaishali Devi!) Although I did not find too many recipes, which ask for Urad dal flour (perhaps there aren't too many anyway?), the one that I found is reeeaaaally good. It is for this Dosa, Didir Dosa. I found the same recipe at a few sites. The one site, which I like the most, is this. The only thing that none of the sites told me is *why* the Dosa is called so. I am sure that one of you will know. :)
This Dosa has two very good qualities.
1) It requires no grinding at all. Which means that bachelors or people on the move or people who are just starting a household and do not have all the kitchen gadgets yet can also make great Dosas.
2) Moreover, the no-grind batter gives you perfect Dosas. I think the pictures are proof enough. :)
The recipe is very uncomplicated too. Let me tell you how.
Recipe for Didir Dosa
I do not really remember how many Dosas I made, but it made four adults so full that they almost skipped lunch. :)
Ingredients:
3 cups rice flour
1 cup Urad flour
salt to taste
water for the batter
oil for the griddle/Tava when making Dosas
Rice flour & Urad flour - Can you tell which is which? :)
Method:
1. Mix both flours and salt. Add enough water to make a soft, lump-free paste. Please make sure that it isn't too runny.
Batter to be fermented yet
2. Leave the batter to ferment for at least 8 hours or overnight. Once the batter rises, check the taste again for salt.
Risen batter
3. For making Dosas, heat a Tava. Pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre and spread it with the back of the ladle moving in concentric circles. Spread a few drops of oil at the edges of the Dosa. For step-by-step fotos, see here. Once the edges of the Dosa start *lifting themselves* from the Tava/griddle, slide a spatula beneath it, fold it in half and take it out.
If you want to serve it like the 'Topi Dosa' that they serve in Udupi restaurants in India, make one cut in the Dosa from the centre through to the edge. Fold it with both hands to make it look like a party hat. Like this.
'Topi' Dosa
Serve it with this chutney or any other chutney of your choice. I served it with this.
I'd like to take this 'hat' along to Nandita's. For her Weekend Breakfast Party...er...Blogging. :)
Trappeto Beach. You wanna be there, don't you? :)
What they call zucchino in Sicily (R) and its leaves (L).
Only the smaller, tender leaves were used in the dish.
Recipe for Spaghettini with Zucchini/Bottle gourd and its leaves
Serves 5.
Ingredients:
One long Italian bottle gourd or a medium-size regular bottle gourd or two small dark green zucchini, as we know them
Leaves of the bottle gourd vine (Only the tender ones at the tip should be picked.)
250 g. Spaghettini (or spaghetti crushed as explained above)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
7-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut
4-5 tomatoes
water for cooking
salt & pepper to taste
grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese to sprinkle
Method:
1. Coarsely chop the tender leaves picked from the bottle gourd vine. Soak them in salted water for the tiny insects/worms to settle at the bottom. In case using spinach, first wash the leaves with plain water and then chop them coarse.
2. Peel the bottle gourd/zucchini. In case you are wondering what to do with the peel, see here. Chop it in bite-sized pieces.
Left to right: chopped bottle gourd, peeled bottle gourd and
picked & chopped bottle gourd leaves
3. Take the leaves out of the salt-water solution and give them a quick rinse.
4. Take lots of water in a large pan and bring it to boil. Then add the leaves as well as the chopped zucchini to it.
5. Cook uncovered until the zucchini pieces are soft.
6. Drain the cooked vegetables reserving the water in which they were cooked.
7. Now place the tomatoes in a shallow dish and pour some boiling water over them. Let them rest like that for a couple of minutes, then take them out into a plate and peel them. The peel will come out easily. Roughly chop these tomatoes.
8. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic pieces. Once they turn a shade darker, add the peeled, chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook uncovered on high heat. Mash it with the back of a ladle while it is cooking.
Olive oil ready to sizzle the garlic
(That's a lot of oil, but Nina is not scared.
It is locally pressed oil from locally grown olives.
It can do no harm, she believes.)
9. In the meanwhile, heat the water in which the veggies were cooked. Once it starts boiling, add the spaghettini and some salt. Cook it uncovered until al dente. Once cooked, drain much of the water from it, reserving some in the pan.
10. The tomato sauce must be ready now with a smooth, homogenous consistency. Add it to the pan with the Spaghettini. Add the cooked veggies too. The dish should be rather soupy. Give it a stir and check the taste for salt.
11. Ladle it into deep dishes/bowls. Sprinkle crushed pepper and grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese over it.
Serve hot with some olives and warm Ciabatta bread on the side. Mmmmmmm....... Buono.... :)
I think, this makes a fitting entry for Meeta's Monthly Mingle with 'Holiday Cuisine' as the theme this time. Here I come, Meeta.....
Tags: Italian Food, Sicily, Pasta, Zucchini
Khoya, after roasting with powdered sugar
(I think, 'real' Khoya will look much smoother and more shiny once roasted.)
2. Cool it completely. Then add the rose essence/water, and divide the mixture in two portions.
3. Add the cocoa powder to one portion and mix well. Add the chopped/powdered pistachios to the other portion and mix well. In case the mixture has become too loose, add a few drops of ghee or milk to tighten it.
4. In a shallow dish/Thali, press the portion with cocoa powder and even out the surface. Then press the pistachio portion on it, and even out the surface again. Press the chopped pistachios set aside for garnishing on it.
5. Let the dish/Thali rest for 15-20 minutes. Then cut the sweet into squares.
Serve as dessert. I think, it will be appreciated most, if offered to children as a surprise treat. Maybe when they come to your place to scare you for Halloween? :)
Do you like this picture? Do you find it different? Yes?
Do you know why? No?
Fine, then let me tell you. -tries to hide the extreme gleam, but fails- It...is...because...I...have...a...NEW CAMERA!!!!!! Yay!!!! It's a birthday present from Hubby Dear. Well, I asked for it, but it still is a present. :) :) I am sooooo excited. It is all that I wanted in a camera. The one I used so far did not really do justice to my extraordinarily artistic(!) ideas, you know. ;-) But hey, I still love my old Kodak buddy. It was there for me throughout my 'teething' days. :)
Anyway, coming back to today's dish, the recipe for which I found here. I came across it while looking for different recipes for Bhindi/Okra/Lady's Fingers, because that is one of the few vegetables, which are always fresh and available at my favourite SriLankan shop. Which means that I cook okra at least once a week, if not twice. However, cooking the same vegetable always in the same way is boring for me. Not enough excitement in the kitchen, you see.
Well, then how is this dish? First of all, it is 'Satvik', meaning (amongst other things,) it has no onion or garlic, which makes it perfect for all the religious feasts that we are gonna have until Diwali. Also, the combination of spices used in it makes it very special. The texture of cooked okra in it is not exactly crispy, as many like it to be. It is slightly chewy, but not rubbery. What would attract the people at home (and maybe the neighbours too!) to the kitchen is the aroma of it while it cooks. Sniff sniff...ummmmmmm..... :)
Clockwise from left: Fresh okra, green chillis, yogurt, red chillis being pounded
Recipe for Dum Bhindi
Serves 4-5.
Ingredients:
500 g. Bhindi/Okra/Lady's Fingers
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp Garam Masala (I used store-bought Sabji Masala instead.)
+ some more Garam Masala (I did not substitute this.)
2 red chillis, pounded
2 green chilies, chopped
4 tsp ghee (I used 1 tbsp Ghee and a non-stick pan.)
+ some more Ghee ( a few drops)
4 tsp ginger paste ( I used julienned ginger.1)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
Method:
1. Using a mixer, blend together yogurt, Garam Masala (or Sabji Masala), salt, pounded red chilis and one chopped green chilli. Take it out into a largish pot, which will also accomodate the Bhindi.
2. Wash,wipe, top and tail the Bhindi. Cut it in 1 inch long pieces and make slits in it, making sure that it does not get cut in half.
3. Soak it in the yogurt mixture and let it marinate for about half an hour. Like so.
Clockwise from bottom left: Ginger juliennes, whole ginger,
okra marinating in yogurt-spice blend
4. Heat the Ghee in a pan. Add the ginger paste (or juliennes), the other green chilli, turmeric powder and fry it for about a minute.
5. Now add the Bhindi with the marinade, stir, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
6. Sprinkle some Ghee and a little Garam Masala on top of the Bhindi. Cover the pan with a lid. Steam-cook on a low heat for 5 minutes.
7. Remove the lid and cook till almost dry. This may take around 15 minutes.
Serve hot with chapatis or Missi Roti or with rice and Dal.
Note:
1. I julienned the ginger or cut it into matchsticks instead of paste, because the paste while frying causes *oil sprays*, leaving the cooking herd, counter-top and your hands very oily. On the other hand, the matchsticks fry rather *peacefully*. Also, they are a pleasure to bite into. :)
This would be my second entry to this month's JFI hosted by Vineela. There could be a third one, if Vineela is ready to accept it late. I have made and photographed the dish, but cannot publish it until Tuesday next week, because I am off on a short holiday. Ciao ciao! (By the way, that's a clue. ;-) ;-))
Khoya khoya chand...? :)
4. Place this ball in the piece of cloth. Tie the cloth in a bundle. Place this bundle into the metal vessel.Khoya is well-made, if there are lots of tiny holes inside, like a sponge
Before you use this Khoya in any preparation, a few
Notes:
1. First off, let's not forget that this is just a substiute and not the real thing. You can use this homemade Khoya in almost all preparations that ask for this milk product. However, the dish will not have exactly the same texture and taste that it would, had the real Khoya been used.
2. It retains some of the milk powder smell, much of which goes away once cooked (like when cooked with carrots to make Gajar Halwa).
3. One biggest advantage of it is, that it has much less fat compared to the real McCoy. Sounds nice, no? :)
I am sending this post as an early entry to Vineela for this month's JFI. I posted it early coz I thought it might help those who want to make something with Khoya, but have no access to a Mithai vendor.
Tags: Milk Powder, Dessert, Indian food
In the plate: Sinful Barfi &
Fuits of Physalis for those, who do not want to indulge :)
Top row (Blue bowls) L to R: pistachios, soft brown sugar, sunflower seeds
In the plate (Clockwise from top): cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom
Below: Mascarpone Cheese
Method:
1. Grind the cardamom and cloves along with some of the sugar to a fine powder. Coarsely chop the pistachios.
2. Grease a shallow (preferably rectuangular) ceramic/glass dish. (The picture below might give you an idea.) Keep it aside.
3. Toast the sunflower seeds in a heavy-bottomed pan. (I used non-stick.) Once a few of them get light brown spots, add the Mascarpone cheese. Keep the heat low.
4. Add the sugar and ground spices. Stir the mixture every now and then.
5. The mixture is ready, when it moves as one mass as you try to stir it. It takes about 5 minutes to come to this stage.
6. Now pour this mixture into the prepared ceramic/glass dish. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on it. Press the surface flat with the back of a bowl.
Mascarpone Barfi almost ready
Needs to be pressed flat and refrigerated yet
7. Let it cool to room temperature. Then cover the dish with aluminium foil/cling film and refrigerate to set for about two hours.
After two hours, the Barfi will be set and ready to be relished. Cut it into square or any desired shapes. Serve them cool or at room temperature as dessert. I think, this Barfi should also make an interesting base for vanilla ice-cream. The way they sell ice-cream with chocolate/date fudge at restaurants in India. (Haven't seen it here in Europe.)
By the way, that reminds me of something. If you have ever been to Lonavala, the hill-station between Pune and Mumbai, and if you have eaten the fudges and chikkis there, it will help you imagine the taste and texture of this dessert. It is somewhere between the two.
80% fudge + 20% chikki = 100% satisfaction. Hehehehe....
Before we part, I'd like to pen down (but wait, I thought I was typing!) a few notes, which will also help me in future.
Notes:
1. Using sunflower seeds in a dessert was new to me. Quite exciting too. Also, I wanted to keep that 'should please the western palate' aspect in mind. However, if I am preparing this Barfi for a pucca Indian crowd next time, I'd use chopped cashews, almonds or mixed nuts instead of the seeds.
2. Also, I'd reduce the quantity of cinnamon by half and increase that of the cardamom by double.
Let me rush a mail to Katherine now...before my heavy eyelids stop me from writing any further. Bye. (Yaaaawwwn...)
Tags: Mascarpone, Barfi, Pistachios, Nuts, Dessert
The curry is not as yellow as it looks in the photograph.
I think, I went overboard while trying to adjust the contrast. :)
I learnt this recipe from my mother. Also, I have only seen her making this preparation and nobody else. (Although I am sure that somebody in some corner of this world must be making it too. :))
Anyway, when she gave me the recipe, she just mentioned in passing that it is based on a Kerala recipe, although she did not mention which one. (As I have mentioned before, she has studied Home Science, in which the students get to learn a lot of cuisines. Hence the connection.)
Before I started blogging, my knowledge of the cuisine of Kerala was limited to 'Avial'. And I knew that this dish could not have been based on that. So I just left it at that.
Then, a few days back, when Indira blogged about 'Kaalan', a bottle gourd and yogurt preparation from Kerala, I was sure it was the mother of this preparation by my mother. :)
As you can see in the next pic, I made this curry with the beautifully round bottle gourd, which was in the guessing game yesterday. Here's how I prepared it.
Recipe for Bottle Gourd Curry with Moong Dal & Yogurt
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
approx. 500 g. bottle gourd/Doodhi/Lauki (3 packed cups, when diced)
1 tbsp Moong Dal, washed and soaked in about ¼ cup water for ½ hour
4-5 tbsp yogurt, beaten smooth
3-4 green chillis
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch asafoetida powder
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
Clockwise from top: Bottle gourd, green chillis, Moong Dal
Method:
1. Wash and peel the bottle gourd. (You need not throw away the peels. This chutney can be made using them.)
2. Dice the peeled bottle gourd. Cut the green chillis in ½ inch long pieces.
3. Heat the oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds once it is hot. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida powder.
4. Add the Moong Dal along with the water and quickly cover the pan with a lid. The water tends to jump high at this point, and may burn your fingers.
5. After about two minutes, open the lid, and add turmeric powder and bottle gourd dices to the pan. Stir and add ½ cup of water.
6. Cover and cook the bottle gourd on medium-high heat for about ten minutes.
7. Once the bottle gourd is cooked, add salt, yogurt and green chilli pieces.
8. Cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes, while stirring often, so that the yogurt does not separate too much.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve warm with phulkas/chapatis or rice & dal.
Tags: Bottle gourd, Moong Dal, Yogurt, Vegetarian
You know this vegetable. Only that the shape of this one is unusual. Can you guess the name? I'll go have my glass of milk in the meanwhile. ;-)
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It is bottle gourd, Folks. In a different shape and size. 'Milk' was a clue (Doodhi), although a pretty lousy one. But I tried (!) .....
Thank you all for coming up with interesting guesses, no matter right or wrong. :)
Left to right:
Dried Indian/Hyacinth/Lablab Beans (Val) & Snake Gourd (Padval)
This preparation is a combination of two rather uncommon ingredients. What I mean by 'uncommon' is that I have seen them, especially the dried Val/Hyacinth/Lablab beans, being cooked only in a few Indian households. More specifically, in families from some regions - particularly the coastal reagions - of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In Karnataka, like at my in-laws' place, they prefer the fresh, shelled Hyacinth beans (called Avrekai). Check out this post by Lavannya for a photograph as well as a recipe with them in it. Our resident gardener, LG aka Inji Pennu grows these beans (like pretty much everything!) in her garden. Here is where you can find out what the flowers and the fresh beans look like.
As for snake gourd, I know, that it is quite common in South India. Many of our fellow bloggers from the southern states of India have blogged about it. However, I am yet to come across a recipe from North India with snake gourd. Please let me know, if you know about any. If you want to see the pretty flower which later turns into a not-exactly-pretty snake gourd, check out this post by LG.
In my opinion, it is the unusual appearance and/or the slightly unpleasant smell that makes people cringe their noses at the mention of Padval or snake gourd. However, I have seen that those very people are happy to eat it when paired with soaked, skinned Val beans or Dalimbya, as we call them in Maharashtra. By the way, one could also use gherkins (Tondli in Marathi) instead of snake gourd in this recipe, which goes like this.
Recipe for Padval Dalimbya
Serves 4-5.
Ingredients:
1 cup/approx. 200 grams dried Val beans (about 2 cups, when soaked & skinned)
approx. 200 grams snake gourd (packed two cups, when diced/sliced)
1/2 tbsp jaggery
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
approx. 3/4 cup of water
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
chopped coriander leaves or shredded coconut for garnishing
Method:
1. Soak the dried Val beans in water for at least five hours or preferably overnight. Skin them on the following day. If they are well-soaked, it is quite easy to skin them. You have to hold one bean and press it with your fingers. The bean inside the skin just pops out. (It's a lot of fun to do that, actually. Perfect activity for when watching a movie on TV! :))
2. Cut the snake gourd vertically in half. Scoop out the seeds, if there are any. Now cut the halves diagonally in slices. Like in the next picture. (Alternatively, just dice the snake gourd after scooping out the seeds. I slice it like this only because I like it. :))
Left to right: soaked & skinned Val beans, sliced snake gourd
3. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida powder.
4. Now add the skinned Val beans, turmeric powder and ¼ cup water.
5. Stir once, cover and cook on medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes.
6. Then add the diced/sliced snake gourd, salt and another ¼ cup of water.
7. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on medium-high heat.
8. Once both - the beans as well as the gourd - are cooked well, add the rest of the ingredients and some more water (if necessary).
9. Turn the heat off after about two minutes.
Garnish with coriander or coconut, and serve warm with chapatis or with rice & dal.
Padval Dalimbya garnished with coriander leaves and baby corn
Note:
The trickiest part in making this dish is cooking the beans and the gourd without overcooking them. Because once overcooked, both tend to fall apart * badly *, and the dish ends up as one 'un-pretty' mush. I, after having cooked it umpteen times, still manage to make a mess of it. Yesterday, when I got it right (after many days!), I knew I had to blog about it. :)
I would like to send this post to Kalyn as my entry for her Weekend Herb Blogging. Since Anthony of Anthony's Bachelor Cooking is the host this weekend, I am off to him. Sayonara!
Tags: Snake gourd, Beans, Bhaji, CurryIdlis & Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney
One of the themes doing the rounds of food-blogosphere these days is 'Chutneys'. One of the main ingredients of it being peels of vegetables. I have blogged about one such chutney already. Here's another one. But it's not just another chutney, you know. It is not just eco-friendly but also very very tasty. Because it is made with peels of bottle gourd (Doodhi/Lauki).
Bottle gourd being peeled
And now that I am back from my trip to the Black Forest (with a postcard for the next BPW event by Meeta ;-)) , I can also share the recipe for this chutney. Here it is.
Recipe for Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney
Ingredients:
Peels of one biggish bottle gourd (I took 1½ cups.)
¼ cup dry-roasted sesame or ¼ cup roasted and peeled peanuts
or ¼ cup roasted Chana Dal (Dariya in Gujarati/Pandharpuri Daale in Marathi)
or a combination of any of these making ¼ cup
(I used 1/8 cup dry-roasted sesame + 1/8 cup roasted & peeled peanuts.)
¼ cup yogurt
2 green chillis (or to taste)
¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp sugar (or to taste, depending upon the heat from the chillis)
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
heaped ¼ tsp asafoetida powder
From left to right: chopped bottle gourd peels, roasted & peeled peanuts, coriander leaves, sesame seeds
Method:
1. Chop the bottle gourd peels and green chillis.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add the cumin seeds, and then the asafoetida powder.
3. Add the chopped bottle gourd peels and green chillis. Stir. Sprinkle some water, cover the pan and let them steam-cook. (I usually use a non-stick pan for this, so I do not really need much water. However, if you are using a regular pan, you might need to add about ¼ cup of water, and also keep a close eye.)
4. Once the peels are soft (They fall apart easily when pressed with a ladle.), add sugar, salt and chopped coriander leaves. Sauté until most of the water has evaporated. Turn the heat off, and let it cool.
5. Once it is cool, add it along with the roasted sesame seeds or peanuts or the combination you are using and the yogurt to the jar of your mixie or food processor. Grind it till you get a fairly smooth paste. The chutney is ready!
Serve it with anything of your choice like Idlis, Dosas, spicy parathas or just with any regular meal. This mild-tasting chutney goes well with a lot of things. I served it this time for breakfast, with Idlis...so that I can send it to Nandita for her next 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging' event. :)
In case you are in a mood to try out more chutney varieties, you could check out these lovely recipes recently blogged by Madhu of Ruchi, Mythili of Vindu, Priya of Sugar And Spice and Shammi of Food, in the main...
In the meanwhile, here's wishing all of you a Happy Independence Day!
Tags: Chutney, Bottle gourd, Sesame seeds, Breakfast, Food
