Beef in red wine

Beef is an all-time-favourite in our households. It usually gets pressure cooked with spices and then dried in oil for a crispy effect. Beef in red wine is slow cooked, making the beef extra tender and full of flavour.

Here is how I made it.

Prep time:30 min  Cooking time:2 hrs 30 min  Serves:4

Ingredients

1- Streaky bacon, chopped - 175g
    Braising steak, cut in to 4cm cubes - 900g

2- Small shallots - 12
    Baby or chantenay carrots - 12

3- Plain flour - 1 tbsp
    Red wine - 300ml
    Beef stock - 300ml
    Soy sauce, I used Kikkoman - 2 tbsp

4- Button mushrooms - 100g
    Dried herbs de provence - 1 tsp

5- Parsley - 4 tbsp

6- Sunflower oil or flora - 2 tbsp

Method

- Preheat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas mark 3.

- Fry the bacon in a frying pan, remove and transfer to a large casserole.

- In the same pan, fry the steak in batches, transferring to the casserole as it browns and adding oil if needed.

- Lower the heat and fry the shallots until golden brown.

- Add the carrots, cook for 2 minutes, then transfer to the casserole.

- Stir the flour into a little of the wine then add to the pan with the remaining wine, stock and soy sauce. Bring to the boil, stirring until thickened.

- Add the mushrooms and herbs and pour mixture into the casserole.

- Cover with a tight lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat is tender.

- Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Cooks Tips

- Use aluminium foil over the pan to get a tight seal.

- If serving for kids, avoid red wine and top it up with more stock.

- Serve with freshly baked bread rolls.

Italian fluffed omelette

My SIL R is an amazing cook, lucky my bro, I would say. She luvs to try out a variety of cuisines. Recently she ventured in to presenting her inspired recipes on the television too. Bravo dear!

This post is dedicated to my dear SIL where I try her first TV recipe. See below for the video of her describing the recipe. I appologise to my non-mallu friends since this video is in malayalam.

I made a few minor changes to suit my customer - my son.

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

1- Eggs - 2

2- Milk - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - a pinch
Salt to taste

3- Onion - 1/4, finely chopped
Hot dogs - 2, thinly sliced
Freshly ground pepper - to taste
Oregano - 2 pinches
Salt to taste

4- Butter- 2 tbsp

5- Grated mozzarella cheese - 2 tbsp

Method

- Separate the white from the yellow of the egg. Beat them in separate bowls.

- Add (2) to the yellow of the egg and mix well.

- Beat the white of the egg till fluffy and add the yellow mixture and whisk well.

- Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a flat pan till it melts.

- Pour the egg mixture, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Take care not to burn the underside of your omelette. Turn off the flame and keep aside.

- Heat 1 tbsp butter in another pan and saute onion till translucent. Add the sausage slices and saute till cooked. Season with oregano, salt and pepper.

- Mix well and turn off the flame.

- Add this filling to one half of the omelette and top with grated cheese. Wait till the cheese starts to melt with the heat form the filling. Fold the omelette over.

- Carefully transfer to a plate and garnish with basil leaves.

Cook's tips:

- Add red chilli paste, as suggested in the original recipe for a spicy filling. Alternately add chopped green chilli.

- Use veggies as filling as an alternative to sausage. Green peppers, mushroom and tomato make a great filling.

- Serve with chips (finger fries) and steamed veggies for a complete meal.

Haresa - a healthier no-egg middle eastern coconut and semolina cake

Haresa (coconut semolina cake) is a middle eastern delicacy. It is a cake that is healthier quite flavoursome and very light on the tumm.  No eggs are used and a fraction of the usual amount of butter is used to prepare it. It is perfect if you are looking for a delicious dinner party dessert which your guests would luv but which would not travel up their hips straight. :)

Here is how I made it.

Source: An Edible Mosaic

Yield: 10 inch cake Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes Total time: 60 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Scented Sugar Syrup (Tahini)

1 cup (200 g) sugar
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1/2  tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tbsp rose water

Semolina Coconut Cake

1 - 2 cups (300 g) fine semolina flour
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (100 g) sugar

2 - 1/2 cup (115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2cups (360 ml) milk
1 cup (75 g) desiccated coconut

3- 3 tbsp almonds

Instructions

To make the Syrup

- Add the sugar, water and lemon juice to a medium, thick-bottomed saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat, giving the pan an occasional swirl and skimming off any foam on the surface.
- Turn heat down to simmer and boil up to 5 minutes (if you want thick syrup), swirling the pan occasionally. (The syrup will thicken upon cooling too.)
- Turn off heat and stir in the rose water  and keep aside to cool.

To make the cake

- Preheat oven to 190 degree celsius. 

- Brush a 10 inch baking pan with tahini

- Blanch almonds by pouring hot boiling water over them before peeling their skin off.

- Whisk (1) in a large bowl. Stir in the butter and then the milk until combined, and then fold in the coconut.

- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, tap the pan on the work top to get an even top surface; let it sit for 10 minutes.

- Score the batter into diamond shapes with a sharp knife, dipping the knife in hot water and drying it off before continuing to score the batter 

- Place 1 almond at the center of each diamond.

- Bake for 30 minutes until the sides and top are golden brown, about 30 minutes.

 

- Take the cake out of the oven and cut along the lines you scored before. 

-  Now pour the cooled syrup onto the hot cake. Let the cake sit at room temperature for  bout 2 hours to let  it absorb all that syrup before serving.

100th post: Green peas kachori and spicy dum aloo: SNC challenge 5

Hello dearies, its that time of the month again. I can't believe SNC challenge has reached its 5th month. I was so gutted last month as due to work-related reasons I couldn't participate in the Jan challenge. I am so glad I finally made it to this months challenge. Better late than never eh? And what better time to post this recipe than my 100th post :-)

Also, a special thanks to Divya for understanding my circumstances and not kicking my humble-self  out even though I couldn't complete last months challenge. :-)

You guys who follow my blog knows excatly what this challenge is about. Just in case some of you are visiting my blog for the first time, here is a snap shot of what has happened in the SNC family till now.

As you can see, the recurring theme is that the south team wins hands down. he he. What say north team????????

 :P

Kadha ithu vare/ The story so far

Challenge	Year	Month	Northern team		Southern team		Winner
			Recipe	Challenger	Recipe	Challenger
SNC-1	2012	October	Mysore pak	Divya Prakash	Bhel Puri Chat	Shruti Dhingra	Northern team
SNC-2	2012	November	Adhirasam	Yashodha	Gulab Jamun	Pallavi	Southern team
SNC-3	2012	December	Medu Vada	Sherin Deepu	Misal Pav	Meena Bhatia	Southern team
SNC-4	2013	January	Vadakari	Ramya	Ghewar	Manjula Bharath	Southern team
SNC-5	2013	February	Green Peas Kachori &Spicy Dum Aloo	Sanoli	Paal Kozhukattai	Tamil	Wait and see

Sanoli, thank you for challenging us southerners with such a yummy combo.  Here is how I made it.

SPICY DUM ALOO

Ingredients

1- Baby Potatoes-10 small

2- Oil-3 tbsp

3- Hing/ Asafoetida-1/4 tsp
    Cumin Seeds-1/2 tsp
    Fennel Seeds-1/2 tsp
    Bay Leaf-1

4- Grated Ginger-1 tsp
    Green Peas-1/2 cup
    Green chillies -2, chopped
 
5 - Tomato-1, chopped

6- Turmeric Powder-1/2 tsp
    Cumin Powder-1/2 tsp
    Coriander Powder-1 tsp
    Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder-1 tsp
    Sugar-1/2 tsp
    Garam Masala-1/2 tsp

7- Water - 1/4 cup

8- Coriander Leaves-2-3 tbsp
    Yogurt -3/4 cup
    Salt-to taste
    Water - enough to make a gravy

Method

- Pressure cook potatoes for 3 minutes after the first whistle. This gives you firm yet cooked through potatos. Peel their skins off and fry them with 1 tbsp oil until golden turning sides often. Takes about 3-4 minutes.

- Heat oil in a pan and add (3) and saute. Now add (4) and saute till ginger is not raw anymore. Add (5) followed by (6). Saute well.

- Add 1/4 cup of water, cover and cook until the peas are done.Add yogurt and saute to mix well.

- Now add the crispy potatoes and enough water to make a gravy. Add salt and cover and cook until the gravy thickens. Serve hot with green peas kachori.

GREEN PEAS KACHORI

(Makes ~ 6 kachoris)

Ingredients

1- Flour-3/4 cup
    Salt-to taste
    Oil-1 tbsp
    Water - enough to make a dough

2- Ghee-1/4 tbsp

3- Green Peas-1 cup
    Green chillies-1, chopped
    Water - 1 tbsp

4- Hing/ Asafoetida-a pinch
    Grated Ginger-1/2 tsp
    Sugar-1/2 tsp
    Roasted Cumin Powder-1/4 tsp

5- Salt-to taste

6 - Oil- enough to deep fry

Method

- Grind (3) to a coarse paste.

- Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pan and add (4). Keep on stirring till the mixture turns dry and is completely cooked. This should take 4-5 minutes.

- Allow to cool and divide the mixture into 6 equal portions.

- Mix (1). Add enough water to make a firm dough.Knead well to get the gluten out and the dough turns stretchy/elastic.

- Divide into 6 equal portions, make balls of each portion and press them to a small circle. Place the filling in the center, bring the edges together and pinch to seal. Roll the stuffed balls into discs taking care not to spill the stuffing, a bit like making aloo paratttas.

- Deep fry until both sides are golden, takes 30 seconds to cook each side.

Notes:

- A dry peas stuffing is essential for an easy roll.
- I omitted the yogurt in the dum aloo recipe to suit my taste and it was so yum.

Verdict:

The dum aloo was the best potato recipe me and my hubby have had ever. It was so yummy, it will feature on our dinner table many many more times in the years to come. Thank you Sanoli. The peas kachori was a hit too. It is amazing how the dry peas paste melts in your mouth to give such a brilliant taste.

Vanilla cake with strawberry mousse filling and white chocolate ganache icing

Valentines day is special for us as its our anniversary as well. Time for a special sweet treat eh?

I tried used vanilla extract with seeds for the first time and boy did it make a difference! The simple vanilla cake was a treat in itself.

Here is how I made it.

Recipe sourced from here. Thanks Ruchi.

Ingredients

1 - Vanilla cake

     Plain flour (maida) - 1 1/2 cup

     Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup(softened)

     Eggs -2(large )

     Sugar -1 cup

     Baking powder - 1 3/4 tsp
     Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
     Milk - 1/2 cup
     Salt - 1/4 tsp

2 - Strawberry mousse

     Egg yolks - 3
     Milk - 3/4 cup
     Double cream - 3/4 cup
     Sugar - 1/2 cup
     Vanilla extract - 1tbs
     Corn flour - 3 tbs
     Strawberry puree - 3/4 cup
     Gelatin - 1/2 tbs
     Water - 4 tbs

3 - White chocolate ganache

     Extra thick double cream - 125ml
     White chocolate - 250gms
     Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
     Butter - 1 tbsp

Method:

Vanilla cake

- Sift flour,baking powder,salt twice and keep aside.
- Beat butter in room temperature using ur food processor/ egg beater for 1-2 minutes.
- Add sugar and beat again until fluffy.

- Add eggs one by one to this mixing after each addition
- Add vanilla extract and beat again.
- Now add flour and milk alternately to this wet mixture, gently mixing after each addition beginning and ending with flour.
- Pour the batter into 8 inch greased and dusted tin and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees (fan assisted oven) or until a tooth pick test comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool down completely on a wire rack.

Strawberry mousse

- In a food processor add egg yolks ,sugar,corn flour,vanilla extract and whisk it until sugar is dissolved - In a saucepan add milk and cream on a low flame and when it starts to boil turn off the flame.
- Add the hot milk cream mixture to the egg mixture carefully and very slowly with one hand whilst constantly strirring with other hand.
- Once all the milk is added pour it back to the saucepan and on a very low heat cook the custard by constantly stirring with a whisk  until gets thick.
- Seive the custard to avoid lumps .
- Cover and chill the custard

-Meanwhile puree the strawberries to a fine paste.
- Melt gelatin adding 4 tbsps of water and microwave for about 30 seconds.

- Add this to strawberry puree.
- Mix well and add strawberry-gelatin mixture to the custard and chill.
- After about half an hour, beat the chilled strawberry custard for 2-3 minutes on high speed till it becomes light and fluffy.
- Chill until ready to use

White chocolate ganache

- In a pan simmer the double cream and when it starts to bubble, turn of the heat.
- Add chocolate and once the chocolate is melted, add vanilla extract ,butter, give it a good mix and allow to cool.

Final assembly.

- Cut the cake in half using thread-method ideally.

- Layer strawberry mousse at the centre and sandwich with the top layer of cake.

- Ice with the ganache.

- Decorate with chocolate shavings and strawberries.

Verdict:

-My son luved it and so did my dear D. I luved the strawberry mousse on its own the best. I am definitely going to make it to serve as a dessert on it own.

- The cake takes a bit longer than ur regular cake to assemble, understandably due to the awesome ingredients, but believe me it is worth the effort.
- I have to confess, I was a bit lazy towards the end and messed up presentation a bit. :P

I also got three lovely awards one from Rani of Rani's gourmet, and two from Indu of Fork n folks, 

Thank you so much Rani and Indhu for sharing these awards with me. I would love to share this with all of you my dear blogger friends.

Unnakkai: Ripe plantain cakes with sweet jaggery coconut filling

Unnakkai is a traditional sweet made on special occasions and is one of the gems in the malabar cuisine. My mum made it for one such special occaison; my 'pennu kanal' :-) Now u know why it is close to my heart.

Ingredients:

1 - Ripe Banana – 2

2 - Coconut – 1 cup
Jaggery syrup - 5-6 tbsp
Cardamom – 2

3 - Ghee – 3 tablespoon Oil – for frying

Method:

- Steam the bananas. Let it cool down in room temperature.

- Mash the steamed bananas & keep it aside. Make sure to discard the seeds and piths.

-  Heat ghee in a pan. Add coconut, jaggery syrup and cardamom. Stew it for 5-6 minutes. 

- Apply ghee on ur hand and make 10 – 12 rolls with mashed banana. Flatten each roll and fill it with coconut mix and make them into desired shapes. 

- Fry these rolls in heated oil until golden brown.

Notes:

- To make jaggery syrup heat jaggery cubes/solids in a thick bottomed pan with enough water to cover them. Simmer till all the pieces melt and the syrup gets the consistency of honey. Remove from heat and let it cool down. This can be stored refrigerated for up to a month. 

Kovakka ( Ivy gourd) fry: I am back in full oomph

It has been an eventful few weeks (months) in my life and I have come out a happy bunny. I certainly have many to thank for. :-) Now, I am back in the blogging world with full oomph.

I have recently also started to contribute to a food column in my college newsletter UK alumni edition. Please check them out here folks.

Now,back to business!

Does deep-fried veggie count towards your five-a-day? May be not, but who cares! They taste so yummy that way.

Deep-fried veggies was something I was introduced to when I got married. My MIL is, and more so her mum was, an expert in that field, says my FIL :-) My dear D is not surprisingly a fan of deep fried veggies especially the likes of kovakka ( ivy gourd), vendakka (okra, lady's finger) and pavakka (bitter gourd). A simple marinade is all that is needed to lift these humble veggies to worthy of centre stage. I very rarely deep fry them as even the thought of deep frying gives me chest pains :-)

Here is how I ( actually my MIL) makes them

Ingredients for the marinade:

Chilli powder
Turmeric powder
Salt

Adjust quantities to your taste.

Method:

- Thinly slice your veggie either into rounds or to long ovals. Make sure your portions are of similar thickness for an even crisp result.
- Marinate for about 10 minutes and deep fry them till golden brown.
- Serve hot with warm boiled rice and yogurt.

Tips:

- My MIL fries her veggies with a handful of slices onions and a sprig of curry leaves for that extra flavour.

For more info on your five-a-day, go to the NHS choices website here.

Enjoy!

Spicy Tofu and chick pea curry

I am a self-proclaimed carnivore. However, I can confidently cook-up a veggie side dish, but when it comes to vegetarian mains I am not the confidant cook you see at other times. Recently I have made that extra effort to try and innovate on veggie mains as well and like all carnivores I go for a meat-like option. Guilty!! 

I like soya chunks, paneer and my current favourite is tofu. It is silky in texture and melts in your mouth. Tofu greedily absorbs all the yumminess you add to your dish enriching its own flavour. My hubby likens it to cooked white of egg. Well, you've got to try to see what you think. Presented is a hearty tofu and chick pea curry. The bite from the chick peas complements the silky tofu very well. Please adjust the spice level to your fiery threshold.

Ingredients:

1 - Medium onion - 1
Garlic cloves - 4-5

2 - Ground cumin - 4 tsp
Ground coriander - 2 tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp

3 - Firm tofu, cut into ½ inch cubes - 1 cake

4 - Cooked chick peas - 2 cups

5 - Tomatoes, chopped - 1 1/2 cups

6 - Vegetable oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

- Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil for five minutes or until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally.

- Add  (2) and saute well.

- Add the cubed tofu and cook for several minutes to absorb the essence of the spices into the tofu. You can even let it brown a little.

- Add the chick peas and some of their liquid. Simmer for 5 minutes or so.

- Add the tomatoes and cook until they break down a bit.

- Add salt.

- Garnish with coriander / mint leaves and serve hot with roti or rice.

Home made pizza base: with my kinda toppings :-)

Pizza is a favourite especially when catering to kids in a party. My son luvs it and so does his friends. I prefer making my own pizza base as it is way better than the ready-made ones. I have altered my technique over the years and the one described below is by far the best. I luv pizza hut and some of my alterations have been for my base to look and taste like theirs. Make them yourself and let me know. :-)

Makes: 2  large (10") pizzas

Ingredients:

1 - Warm water - 1 1/2 cups
     Yeast - 2 tsp
     Sugar - 1 tsp

2 - Plain flour - 3 1/2 cups

3 - Olive oil - 2 tbsp

4 - Semolina / rava - for dusting

5 - Salt to taste

Method:

- Mix (1) together and leave to rise for 15-20 mts

- Mix flour with salt in a large mixing bowl and add olive oil. Make a well at the centre and pour in the yeast mixture. Using a fork or spoon gradually bring in the dry ingredients and mix till all the flour is wet. Make it in to a ball.

- Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

- Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into two.

- The dough will be very sticky at this point. So roll them out on a semolina dusted surface, which helps u handle the dough better. I use the flat of my hands and fingers to roll the pizza rounds for a rustic effect. Make sure to not pull them so hard that u break the dough.

- Add the topping of your coice and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or till done. 

Toppings:

- I start off with a light brushing of olive oil to prevent the dough absorbing any of the moisture from the sauces.

- Next comes the turn of tomato-garlic sauce. I mix soem ketchup with garlic paste ( about 1/2 tsp) and spread a thin layer on top leaving an inch on the outer rim. 

- The best topping I would suggest is pepperoni, mozzarella and basil. They are great together.

- U can also use what ever is left over in ur fridge or any thing at all as ur toppings. Left over sausages,  beef fry, chicken dry fry, chilli fish, paneer , u can go wild with ingredients. Make sure u all enough veggies to balance out the taste. I use capsicum, red onion, mushroom, green chilli (if making for adults) etc cut in to thick slices. 

- Sprinkle with cheese of ur choice. I use grated mozzarella  as it gives a nice stringy texture when baked. 

Tips:

- It is a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge.

- If u have a pizza pan, try adding a tsp of butter or ghee to the pan before placing ur pizza base. This crisps up the base to give a pizza-hut- like effect.

Misal pav - SNC challenge

SNC challenge

Divya Pramil of You too can cook Indian Food is the brain behind SNC challenge - recipe exchange where two teams challenge each other with their authentic recipes. The teams get a month’s time to prepare the recipe and post on their spaces. This is the 3rd event of the series and December month's challenge is posted by  Meena from random ramblings  (Northern team) and yours truly ( South team). 

It is nearly the end of the month, I know. But this time of the year I am usually busy with friends and more so at work too. Appologies for the late entry Meena  and Divya. But I made it :-)

Misal pav is mumbai street food, which is a bit spicy and full of flavour. For those of u who follow my blog probably know by now how much I luv street food. I had only praises when I tried and posted Bhel puri. Misal pav is one such flavour packed soul filling food that u guys ought to try, if u haven't already. The original recipe asked for white peas. I couldn't get hold of it,hence the use of chick peas.

Thanks Meena ji for such a kidilam (superb in malayalam slang :-D ) recipe.

This is how I did it.

Ingredients

1- White peas / Chick peas - 200 grams ( pre-cooked from a can)

2 - Big onion - 2
Tomato paste - 1 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Ginger paste - 1tsp
Green chillies - 1
Coconut - 1/4 cup, dessicated (pre-soaked)

3 - Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Dry mango powder / Amchoor powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste

4 - Oil - 5 tsp

5 -Mixed farsan / Sev / Mixture - I used chin-chin mixture - to taste (lots and lots in my opinion :-) )
Pav buns - as required - I used ciabatta rolls - shop bought.
Big onions - 1, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - as required, chopped

Method

- Make a paste of (2) and keep aside

- Heat a pan and add 3 tsp of oil. Splutter cumin seeds and add the ground paste, stirring well.

- Add rest of (3) and mix well on low flame.

- Add water from the can and cook till gravy thickens.

- Add the cooked peas and stir well.

- Garnish with (5) and serve with pav / rolls

Yummmmm!!