A very mild and elegant dessert that is super dooper easy to make is this baked pear.This recipe was taken from Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine. The changes I made to this recipe was I used apricot spread instead of preserve and used some nuts for garnish. By using the preserve this dessert turned out very mild and was perfect for people who liked mild sweet and or healthy dessert. What I liked about this one is that it was easy to prepare for a crowd. Served with ice cream and walnuts you can make it an outstanding dessert.

Gadgets:

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Bowl

Baking Tray

Cutting Board

Knife

Pear Corer

Peeler

Orange Juice Make

Oven

Ingredients:

Fresh Orange Juice - 3/4th cup

Apricot Spread - 1/2 cup

Pear - 4

Ice Cream ( optional)

Walnuts - 16

Preparation:

1. Peal the pear and cut them into half and remove the seeds from the middle.

2. Place them cut side down on the baking tray.

3. Mix Orange Juice (store bought or home made) and spread them over the pear t form a glaze.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes, cool and serve them with a scoop of ice cream and some toasted walnuts.

There are so many types and methods to prepare a vegetable or a mixture of them and make them really delicious. A combination of kootu with rice and rasam or chapathi is enjoyable at any given time. One kind of kootu that is very popular in my household is eggplant kootu. I found that using the type of egg plant matters. After experimenting I find the purple eggplant available here and the Indian variety to be the best in creating the right texture and taste to the kootu. This is because I find the other varieties cook very easily and the eggplant does not hold its form well in the end. 

Gadgets:

Cooking pan
Cutting board
Knife
Measuring Spoon
Seasoning Spoon/wok


Ingredients:

Eggplant - 1
Water- 1 cup
Cumin- 2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Cilantro powder - 1 tbsp or fresh cilantro - 1 tbsp
Dry Coconut - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Udad Dhal - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - a few shakes
Cooked Thoor Dhal - 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/4th tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Red chillis - 1 or 2


Preparation:

1. Cut the eggplant into big cubes and place it in the cooking bowl with some water and salt.

2. Add turmeric, cumin and sambar powders to it and cook for 8 minutes.

3. Add thoor dhal and allow it to cook for 2 minutes.

4. Heat the seasoning vessel and add 1 tbsp of oil. Add asafoetida and mustard. Allow it to pop and then add udad dhal and dry chillis. When the dhal becomes golden brown add dry coconuts and remove from heat. The coconut will get roasted in the heat.

5. Add the seasoning to the eggplant, garnish with cilantro and serve it hot.

The first time I had tasted Kadai Paneer was at a  restaurant. I loved the flavor of the smoked paneer from the tandoor along with the crunchy texture of bell pepper and onions. Its been on the back of my mind ever since to prepare it sometime but I kept postponing it thinking that it would be hard to get the tandoori effect. It made me want to experiment to create something close to the version I had tasted. I was really happy with the outcome because I was able to create the smokey flavor and crunchy texture. It tasted wonderful hot out of the kadai. A must try if you are a paneer lover.

Gadgets:

Kadai/Wok

Wooden spatula

Cutting Board

Knife

Skewers

Bowl

Ingredients:

Red Onion - 1 big

Mini bell peppers - 20 or bell peppers - 3

Garlic - 6 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

Tinned diced tomato - 1/2 tin or 2 roma tomatoes.

Cumin - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Coriander - 2 tbsp

Salt

Raw Peanuts - 1/2 cup

Oil - 2 tbsp

Paneer - 1 slab (450 gms)

Additional ingredients for paneer marinating:

Oil - 2 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt

Preparation:

1. Cut the onion and peppers lengthwise. Slice the garlic and the ginger.

2. Heat the wok on high and add 2 1/2 tbsp oil. Then add the onions and cook them without any salt to make them stay crunchy.

3. Add garlic and ginger after 2 minutes followed by the bell peppers. Cook the bell pepper for 3 minutes and then add the tomatoes.

4. Add all the powders and salt and cook on medium high for 5 minutes constantly stirring.

5. Meanwhile cut the paneer into big cubes. In a bowl add oil, turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder. Give them a stir and add paneer and coat each cube with this mix.

6. Skewer 5 to 6 paneer cubes at a time and cook it over the gas stove to make tandoori or smoked effect.

7. Add skewered paneer to the cooked veggies. Garnish with cilantro and toasted peanuts and serve them hot with some roti.

Note: To roast the peanuts add 1/2 tsp of oil to the raw peanuts and microwave for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.

Its Feb 5Th and the last day for RCI: Chettinadu Vegetarian Cuisine event posts. I have been racking my mind to think of something to post for the event myself. I decided to ask my sister to get me some recipes from her close friends living in D.C. The recipe Annamalai and his wife Rajee gave my sister was the Karuvapillai Molagu Kozhambu. It took me less than 10 minutes to prepare and I hope I was able to come up with the perfect taste as the recipe would have called for. I liked what I tasted and I am sure you all would.

Gadgets:

Blender or Mixer
Wok
Spatula
Measuring cup and spoon


Ingredients:

Curry leaves - About 2 cups
Pepper - 1 tsp (depends on the level of spice one would like)
Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
Coconut - 1 tbsp (optional)
Onions - 1/2 chopped finely
Garlic - 4 cloves
Oil- 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 1/4 tsp
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Salt





Preparation:

1. Heat the wok and add 1 tsp of oil and roast the curry leaves and remove and allow to cool.

2. Heat the ghee and roast coriander seeds, cumin, coconut, channa dhal and allow to cool.

3. Grind the curry leaves and the other mixture into a powder.

4. Heat the remaining oil in the wok and add garlic and onions and cook with a little salt. Add water and tamarind paste allow to boil for a few minutes and then add the powdered mix.

5. The liquid will start to thicken. Serve them with some hot rice.

Its been a while since I baked cookies. Oatmeal and chocolate combo is something I did not think about, until my nephew mentioned that he liked it the best. In my search on line I came across this recipe mentioned in Baking Sheet which was taken from the book The Frog Commissary Cookbook. I followed the recipe and what I tasted was something perfect and wonderful especially when taken out of the oven and chewed on. It does have a wonderful flavor and I warmed it up in the microwave for a few seconds before I had it every time once it had cooled because it was perfect when it was warm.

Gadgets:

Baking Tray

Mixing bowls

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Ice Cream scoper

Hand held electrical mixer

Parchment paper


Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups oats (rolled or "quick," but not "instant") (I used rolled oats)
2 cups chocolate chips (about 12-oz.) (I used semi sweet chocolate)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix with the butter, sugars, vanilla together and then add one egg at a time.

3. Mix together baking powder soda, flour, oats, salt and chocolate chips.

4. Mix the wet and dry until they are mixed and place 1 inch balls on the parchment paper allowing 1 1/2 inches between them.

5. Bake for 14 minutes but do flip the tray half way to bake evenly.It will be a little soft when removed from oven allow it to sit for a few minutes on a rack before storing them.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Krishna Sweets in Coimbatore is very popular for its mysore pak. I know of so many people who love this sweet in my family and among my friends circle. The closest to the one in Krishna Sweets was this recipe that Mrs. Saraswathi Vishwanathan shared with me. She also gave me a hands on demo in preparing the perfect mysore pak that I have tasted so far in the U.S. I know most of you want to stay away from this sweet because it is made with lots of clarified butter or browned butter. The spin on that is substituting one cup of ghee with regular olive oil to make it a little healthy, not that it gets any healthy because the channa flour needs to be bathed in that fat to produce the perfect mysore pak. For all those mysore pak lovers I am sending it to JFI: Chickpea hosted by Sometime Foodie and Just For You event hosted by Alka of Sindhirasoi.

Gadgets:

Heavy Bottom Wok

Metal Spatula

Heavy Bottom Saucepan

Bowl

Prepared Tray

Pizza Cutter


Ingredients:

Besan Flour - 1 cups

Sugar- 2 cups

Ghee - 1 1/2 cups

Olive Oil - 1/2 cup

Water - 3/4 cup


Preparation:

1. Heat ghee and olive oil in a saucepan. Place the heat on low.

2. Heat the wok and add 2 tbsp ghee and roast the channa/ besan flour for 5 minutes or until the raw smell leaves. Remove and place in a bowl.

3. In that same wok add sugar and water and allow it to reach 100 degrees in the candy thermometer or 1 string consistency.



4. Add 5 tsp of the ghee oil mixture to the sugar mixture and mix well. Then add the roasted channa/ besan flour to the sugar liquid and mix well to remove all the clumps and make it into a smooth pasty liquid.

5. Keep mixing well for about 20-30 minutes on medium high until the mixture begins to froth and leaves the sides and keep adding the ghee that is kept warm a little by little.

6. Transfer it onto the prepared tray and cut into squares or diamonds using the pizza cutter.

With winter comes snow and cold or cough. Due to over indulgence during the holidays and lack of exercise makes most people fall sick. According to Pujashree Madhioli Saraswathi, also known as Sri Akka  recommended that we have Jeera (Cumin)/ Ajwain(omam) water on a regular basis to keep our body temperature in sync with the changing seasons. My family and I have been doing just that and it always helps a lot especially when one initially catches a cold or have a terrible cough, sour throat. In fact, it helped me get over my cold faster without expanding into a flu or cough. Either by diluting the concentrated portion with warm water and drinking through the day or by adding honey to the concentrate and having 3 tbsp morning and evening it helps the cold to disappear faster. I give it to my daughter every day when the seasons change to keep her from catching a cold.

Gadgets:

Sauce pan
Measuring cups and spoons
Filter



Ingredients:

Water - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 3 tbsp
Omam/ajwain - 1 tsp
Basil / Tulasi - 4 leaves(optional)
Honey - 6 tsp




Preparation:

1. Boil water and add cumin seeds, ajwain seeds and boil for 5 minutes on low heat.

2. After 5 minutes remove from heat and add basil or tulasi leaves to it and allow to soak up.

3. Filter the liquid and add honey to it and have 3 tbsp of the liquid. The excess can be stored in the fridge and warmed.

4. For those who can handle without honey you can keep adding this to a warm cup of water and keep drinking them.

Note: This is however an home remedy and can be tried but is not the only way to heal your cold or cough.

For the loving wishes from fellow blogger's and all the visitors to my blog I would like to wish you all a very happy new year. I wish you all have abundance of good health, wealth, happiness, luck, love, fun, laughter and amazing experiences.

 I have been documenting some recipes that I have been preparing from time to time thinking some day I would blog about it when I find some time. One such thing was the masala bun. I have been looking at this recipe from The Singing chef's blog for some months and at last I found some occasion to make it. A great recipe to try if you are in a mood to bake. The first time I followed as per the recipe and once I figured out the consistency of the dough I have been playing around with the dough's taste and filling. The best combination that my family enjoyed was the one with the potato and onion stuffing. Thank you Raaga for this bun recipe.

Gadgets:

Baking Tray
Bowls
Measuring cups and Spoons
Oven
Wok


Ingredients:

For Bun:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Whole Wheat Flour or Regular Atta - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 tbsp
Yeast - 1 whole packet
Hot water - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Cilantro - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 1/2 tsp plus extra for prep the dough
Jalapeno - a few

For Potato Filling:

Boiled Potato - 4
Red Onions - 1 1/2
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch
Green Chilli - 1
Asasoetida - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Cilantro - 3 tbsp



Ingredients:

1. For preparing wet ingredients add salt, sugar and hot water in a bowl and mix for the salt and sugar to dissolve. Add milk to bring the liquid to warm temp and then add yeast and allow to sit until they foam and then add oil.

3. For dry ingredients add flour, chilli powder and cilantro and mix them well. Add the liquid mix and mix to form a dough. Make a ball and then apply 1 tsp of oil to coat the dough and allow it to rest anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. The dough has to double.

4. For the filling heat the oil in a wok. Add asafoetida, green chillis, garlic, onion and salt and cook until the onions are well done. Then add turmeric, potato and cilantro and mix well and cook it for 4 minutes and remove from flame and allow to cool a little before making the buns.

5. Set the oven to 400 degrees and when the dough is ready take a little over a golf ball size dough and pat it. Place the prepared stuffing 1 1/2 tbsp in the center and cover up the filling with the dough. Place it on a baking tray and add jalapenos on top and bake for 14 -15 minutes.

5. When the bun is done brush them a little with ghee or melted butter to give it a gloss and serve them hot with any chutney.

I have never baked a pie before. I always known someday I would break the unknown resistance to baking pies. It was my husbands birthday a few days ago and I wanted to make something special for him. Looking through all the baking books I was having a hard time making up my mind as to what to bake. In the end I gave the book(Home Baking by Parragon Publishing) my friend Dhanu had gifted me and asked him to pick out something that he would like to try. He picked the Banaoffe Pie for its simplicity. So I set out to do something I have never prepared before. I did make a lot of changes to the recipe from the book as I had to make do with ingredients I had at home.

Gadgets:

Spring foam pan- 9 inches
Cutting Board
Knife
Measuring spoon
Tin Opener
Saucepan or rice cooker with plenty of water
Food Processor
Microwave safe cup


Ingredients:

Banana - 8 ripe but firm to touch
Fat Free Condensed Milk - 1 tin
Dark Chocolate - 1/4 cups melted for drizzling
Graham Crackers - 18 full crackers
Butter - 6 tbsp
Almonds - 1/2 cup
Lemon or Orange juice - 1 tsp


Preparation:

1. Place the tin of condensed milk immersed in a sauce pan or rice cooker full of water and cook it on low for 2 hours. When that is done remove, open and allow it to cool.

2. In the meantime powder the almonds and the graham crackers into a coarse mixture and add melted butter in the microwave and add that to this mixture.

3. Coat the spring form pan with some butter and then add this mixture to it and distribute to form the pie base /crust and place it in the oven at for 12 minutes, remove and allow to cool.

4. Cut the banana into thin slices coat them with some lemon or range juice and place it in the baked pie crust. Spoon in the cooled condensed milk over the banana and continue to layer. In the end add some melted chocolate and allow to set in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

4. Cut an serve then with some whipped cream. Delicioso!!!

The last two months I have not been very prompt in posting on " This book Makes Me Cook", but I have always been thinking of posting about it. In Oct I wanted to post on "Naughtiest Girl In School" and wanted to bake a cake as that was what really tempted me when I read the book. In November we needed to post on " Alice In Wonderland" and I got around to baking the cake. I thought it would be appropriate to blog on both the books in one post and make up for the belated posting. On top of it all I wanted to also send this into Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen's birthday celebration.

Elizabeth a fascinating little girl is the main character in Enid Blyton's Naughtiest Girl In School. Her strong will and compassion to help others turns her into a very loveable girl. In Chapter 1 and 3 there is a mention of a current cake. In India during Christmas time at most bakeries they sell plum cake. Its a cake that is made of currants, raisins, dry fruits and fruit mix. While I was reading the book the mention of currants cake made me want to bake a plum cake. This is a recipe that I have been perfecting to taste like the ones that you find in India and I think at last I come close to it. Below is a clipping from the book.

Lines From Chapter 1

Elizabeth's things were packed and ready. She had a neat brown trunk, with "E. Allen" painted on it in black. She had a tuck-box too, with a big currant cake inside, a box of chocolate, a tin of toffee, a jam sandwich, and a tin of shortbread.

"You will have to share these things with the others," said Miss Scott, as she packed the things neatly inside.

Lines From Chapter 3

A bell rang loudly, and the girls looked cheerful, "Good! Tea!" said Ruth. "Come on. Wash first, all of you, and do your hairs. Yours looks awful, Elizabeth." Elizabeth did not like her dark curls being called "awful." She went up to her bedroom and did her hair neatly, and washed her hands. She was very hungry, and thought with pleasure of her currant cake and jam sandwich.

Elizabeth put out her sandwich and her currant cake and took her place too. Grace was said and then the boys and girls began to chatter quietly.Suddenly Nora banged on the table. She was at the head of it. Everyone at her table stopped speaking."I nearly forgot to say something," said Nora.

"Elizabeth Allen does not wish to share her things with anyone, so don't ask her for a piece of her cake, will you? She wants it all herself." "All right!" said the other children, and they stared at Elizabeth in surprise. Elizabeth went on eating her bread and butter. Next to her was Ruth, opening a large pot of shrimp-paste that smelt simply delicious. She passed it round the table-but did not offer Elizabeth any.

She cut her currant cake. It looked quite nice. She suddenly felt that she really couldn't eat it all by her self, she must offer it to the others too. She didn't mind being thought naughty, but being thought mean was different.

Alice In Wonderland by Charles Lutwidge is about a girl who falls into the a rabbit hole and then it is a real adventure. In that story Alice attends a tea party. My original idea was to have a tea party with tea pots, mini cakes and sandwiches with signs that said "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" instead I had a hot cup of tea with a slice of plum cake. Though I am posting it way past the posting date I wanted to still share this recipe.

Gadgets:

Baking pan -9 inches

Mixing Bowl

Spatula

Hand held Mixer

Measuring cups, spoons and scale

Saucepan

Sieve

Ingredients:

All Purpose Four - 250 gms

Sugar for Cake - 250 gms

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp

Fruit Cake Mix - 1/4 cup

Raisins and currants - 1/3 cup

Butter - 250 gms

Eggs - 1 whole at room temp and liquid egg white for 3 eggs

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 ts

Nutmeg powder - 1/4 tsp

Clove Powder - 1/4 tsp

Cashew Nuts pieces - 1/4 cup

Caramel Sauce - use 80% of the liquid

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Butter - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat the sauce pan and add the sugar. Add some water and allow the sugar to melt and change into a dark amber color and thickens.

2. Remove the saucepan from the stove and very carefully add 1 cup of water(watch out there will be a lot of smoke and splattering of caramel) and put it back on the stove to melt again.

3. When the liquid is completely melted the liquid starts to boil remove from flame and allow this liquid to cool.

4. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and start to make the cake after the caramel has cooled.

5. Add sugar and butter and blend well using a hand mixer. Add eggs, vanilla and mix well. Add the caramel sauce and mix well.

6. Using a sieve mix the baking powder and APF. Take a 1/4 cup of this mix and coat the dry fruits, fruit mix and nuts so that they get distributed evenly and not settle to the bottom of the cake.

7. Add the flour and the flour coated fruit mix a little at a time and mix with the liquid mix.

8.Transfer to a baking pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until it passes the tooth pick test.

____________________________________________________________________

The other "This Book Makes Me Cook" blogger's:

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen - Orange Marmalade Cake

Harini of Tongue Ticklers - Vegan Cheesecake Brownies

Sweatha of Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with Food - Chocolate Pudding Cake

Siri of Siri's Corner - Veggie Finger Sanwiches

Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen - Sandwiches For My Mad Tea Party

In every Indian store around the country you will find Chakli, which is the most sought after savory snack. It is spicy, crunchy, savory and tastes perfect with a hot cup of tea or coffee on any given afternoon. The traditional mullu murruku is a mix of rice flour and udad flour, but chakili is just rice flour and a spices deep fried. I did not follow any recipe, I just went with the flow and made them yesterday. Thought it would be perfect to snack on the whole of next week when my family meets. Its really easy and I was done in 15 minutes from start to finish.

Gadgets:

Wok
The mold to make the chakili
The press to make the chakili
Bowl
Tin to store


Ingredients:

Rice flour - 2 cups
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp (for spice)
Paprika powder - 1 tsp (for flavor)
Butter - 3 tbsp
Salt
Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp
Water
Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

1. Preheat oil on medium high. The oil is ready when you drop a piece of a dough in oil and it raises swiftly to the top.

2. Add all the dry mixture into a bowl.Add butter and mix it well into the flour.

3. Add water 1/4 cup at a time and mix well to form a dough that is wet but not sticky.

4. Put this into the press with the star shaped mold and press it over the oil that has been preheated.

5. Deep fry to golden brown. Remove and allow to drain over a paper towel to remove excess oil. When it cools store in an air tight container.