Hummus – the Meditteranean delight!
Being born and brought up in the Middle East has really influenced my taste buds. Being born there the most common question my friends would ask are, “Do u speak Arabic?” and I start grinning trying to answer them ..as I know how to read and write but have totally forgotten all the meanings..so literally don’t know to speak..as I have lost touch with it 😛
My younger son had his Graduation day at school…he’s been graduated to his first grade and so has been bye bye to the kindergarten years. Dressed up in their pink academic dress and mortar board it was a pleasant sight to see all the kiddies singing with lighted candles and scrolls in hand..wish to be their age ….
The recipe that I will be posting today is of hummus. This dip is great with carrot sticks as well as pita breads.
- 1 cup of dried chickpeas (soaked overnight & pressure cooked)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- ½ cup of tahini paste
- 2-3 tbsp of olive oil
- 1/8 cup of lime juice (add 1tbsp more if u feel flavour is less)
- Salt to taste
- Peel the skin of the cooked chickpeas.
- Grind the chickpeas, garlic, limejuice and salt to a smooth paste.
- Add water if it becomes too thick.
- Mix in the tahini paste.
- Serve it on to a plate and garnish with paprika powder and olive oil.
An Eggy toast celebrating.. Women’s Day!
Let me start off with wishing all the wonderful women out there a Happy Women’s Day!
My sole pillar of strength and the woman who I adore the most in my life is my mom.She hasbeen there for me to look on to ,advice, love , scold..solving out ..having the patience to hear my stories(which never end..:P)..The life of a woman is indeed no cakewalk..phew! I wanted to pick up a real eezy peezy recipe to post on Womens day… ..it was then that I stumbled on to these Eggy breads while I was watching one of Gordon Ramsays cooking spree on TV.He had mentioned that it was one of his moms special recipes…so why not post a recipe of a wonderful mom celebrating Womanhood 🙂
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp of milk
- 2 tbsp of sugar
- 4 thick slices of slightly stale bread
- 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
- Butter/oil for frying
- For Caramelized Bananas
- 3 firm but ripe bananas
- 2 Tbsp of unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp of sugar
- 1/2 tsp of orange juice
- Beat the eggs together thoroughly with the milk and 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and
- then pour into a shallow dish.
- Add the bread slices and submerge them in the egg, turning to coat them well.
- Fry the both sides of the bread till golden brown, drizzling ghee or oil on the sides.
- Separate on to a dish.
- Peel the bananas and slice.
- In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter.
- Add the banana slices and cook, gently turning them occasionally, until they begin to
- brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the sugar and cook until it melts, about 1 minute.
- Gently stir in the 1/2 cup orange juice and the rum and cook until the liquid has
- reduced slightly, about 1 minute.
- If the sauce seems too thick, add a little more orange juice until it is the desired
- consistency.
- Top the eggy bread with the caramelized bananas….
Planning to have a glass of juice with your eggy bread?
I had my eggy toasts with a glass of Paperboat’s Aamras.Paper boat drinks boast on reliving the old memmories through their drinks.To say the truth , when I received my set of paperboat drinks …the packs where quite inviting in their colors and flavors.Being a mango lover my first choice was to try out Aamras .I was not quite dissappointed with my sip of Aamras ..boing …felt as if I had a slice of juicy piece of a super ripe mango ..yumm! Paperboat has some unique flavors of which they stand apart from other drinks.The flavors that I got to try out were Aamras, Aampanna , Jaljeera & Jamun .Aampanna did have that tangy sourness with the shot of cumin .Wasn’t quite fascinated by the tastes of Jal jeera and Jamun .The color of Jamun was quite appealing but my tastebuds couldn’t quite cope with the taste of it. My vote would aamras and aampanna when compared to the other two.Its a good innovation though that Paperboat has bought out some very unique tastes 🙂
Love Nutella…??? Get ready for ..Nutella Twists!!!
This weeks post is a special dedication to all those who love Nutella 😀 When I saw that the Nutella twists was the recipe chosen for last months Daring Bakers was thoroughly fascinated by this twisted beauty.Although it took off a few hours of my Saturday ..it was total bliss ..YuMM! 😀 The best part was having my sons ready to help me out in baking .My younger one was more keen in knowing if it was ready .Every five minutes he would be testing my patience ..asking if it was ready .He wanted to help me out in spreading out the Nutella on the layers…and guess what ….he had nutella all over his face.When I stared at him ..he gave me his angelic smile ..showing of his teeth all coated in chocolate..:PKids are kids ..hmm 😀
Nutella Twists
1 can (400 gm) (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
1 cup (240 ml) vegetable oil
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
3 teaspoons (15 ml) (12 gm) yeast
7 cups (1 kg) (2.2 lbs) all-purpose (plain) flour, approximately
Pinch of salt
Instead of the eggwash use
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (25 gm) (1 oz) milk powder
3 tablespoons (45 ml) lukewarm water
1teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) sugar
1/4 teaspoon (1 gm) instant coffee
For the filling
½ jar (200 gm) (7 oz) of nutella (or similar)
Mix the condensed milk, yeast, oil, water, and eggs in the bowl of your mixer .Add the flour one cup at a time and knead using the kneading attachment or by hand till you get a
soft dough . The dough will be slightly sticky due to the sweetened condensed milk, don’t worry once the dough rests it will have a wonderful consistency .Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to rest till it doubles in size . Punch down the dough and divide it into 2 parts. Wrap one part in a plastic bag and work with the other. Divide the dough ball into 4 parts.Roll each part into a circle at least 20 cm (8 inch) in diameter.You can use a plate or any other round item as a template if you want your layers to be identical and uniform.Spread the Nutella (or similar filling) on the first layer.9. Place the second layer on top of the first and repeat . Top with the fourth layer, this time only brush it with butter. Using a knife make cuts that divide the dough circles into 8 triangles starting at the center but don’t go all the way to the outer edge. I find that using a ruler to mark the dough makes the cuts easier and more uniform. Then divide each triangle into two (2) . That gives you a total of 16 triangles.13. Gently lift the triangles one at a time and twist them.The end result will look like this, repeat for the other dough ball. Brush the dough with egg wash replacement . Allow to rest for 15 minutes during which you would heat your oven to very hot 500°F/240°C/gas mark 9 (rack in the middle) . Bake for 5 minutes on very hot 500°F/240°C/gas mark 9, then lower the temperature to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 15-20 more minutes (ovens do differ greatly, so the time may differ… what you want is to bake it until the under side is golden brown).If you have a broiler (grill) in your oven. Turn on the broiler (grill) for a couple of minutes until the bread is golden on the top.I baked a few nutella filled buns too with my excess dough.
So wishing all a happy baking :)!
The tangy Puliyodharai..
Being shortlisted for the Gourmand World Cookbook awards came in as a big bundle of surprise for me to shortlisted among the 7 finalists from 187 countries for the title “The Best Local Cuisine in India “..:) I never knew that more surprises were yet to come ..thats when I get a tweet from reknown celebrity Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor..congratulating me on being shortlisted…..phew..the night I saw that tweet ..hehe..left me sleepless..:P
Puliyodharai reminds me of tamarind ..and tamarind reminds me ..licking licking..;) makes my mouth water.I remember how I used to collect tamarind during my vacations in Kerala..depod nd lick o lick ..:D Wish to be a kid once more..hmm..it is funny though..in that age all I had in mind was just to be a grown up ….:P
The courtesy of the Puliyodharai recipe that I am posting here today goes to the book “Festival Samayal -an offering to the Gods ” by Viji Varadarajan. Her cookbooks are explicit eyeopeners to the Tamil Brahmin cuisine. Her book Vegetarian delicacies of South India has also been shortlisted for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards..kudos Viji Mami ! Although we have been chatting over phone ..really excited to meet this wonder lady in person 🙂
Puliyodharai Rice
2 cups of Rice
1/2 cup of thick Tamarind pulp
1/4tsp of Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp of Asafoetida powder
1/2 cup of skinned roasted peanuts(optional)
1/2 cup of sesame oil
2 tsps of salt
For seasoning:
1/4 tsp of Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of husked split black gram
1/2 tsp of Bengal gram
5 dried chillies , halved
Curry leaves
Cook the rice in 5 cups of water. Each grainn of the cooked rice should be seperate. Set aside to cool . Heat a tablespoon of oil, add the mustard to pop.Add the dals , stir for ten seconds till golden .Add the chillies and fry till it turns a bright red.Add the peanuts and saute for 20 seconds. Add tamarind pulp , a cup of water , turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt.Cover and simmer over a medium flame for 5-7 minutes.Open the lid and cook until it becomes a thick sauce .Add the remaining oil and take it off the stove.This is called pulikaachal.Mix the sauce and rice well without mashing it.Wet , crush the curry leaves add and stir for 5 seconds.Keep the tamarind rice for a couple of hours before serving.Add1/2 teaspoon of jaggery to balance the hot and tangy flavour of the tamarind rice.A dash of fresh lemon juice will make the dish more exotic.
So Happy tangy tamarind cooking ……:) !
Green peas in season …time for Peas Rawa !
Its in the midst of Feb and I am reminded of the climate during the months of Dec & Jan in Munnar…its been pretty cold for the past weeks .There were nights when the temperature dropped down to minus 2 and 3 and that’s pretty unusual during this month.The laziest part of all is getting up in mornings to go to school ..phew…:P when you just wish to stay curled and cuddled in the warmth of your quilt in bed..and ur alarm goes beep beep..ahh..:(
I was recently featured in the Deepika news portal..
Green peas is quite in season ..so thought of posting my fav Peas uppuma recipe..which is a great time saver and is ready in a jiffy..;)
Green peas Uppuma
2 cups of Semolina
5 cups of water
1 cup of green peas
2 tbsp of ghee
1/2 cup of grated coconut
7 green chillies chopped
2 large onions chopped
1tsp of mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
Coriander leaves chopped
1 tsp of lemon juice
Salt to taste
Roast semolina in a teaspoon of ghee till light golden brown and separate.Heat a wok, pour oil or ghee, splutter mustard seeds, saute green chillies and onions till the onions caramelize.Add in the green peas , fry them a little , pour in the water, let it simmer, add in salt to taste , asafoetida and let it cook.Once cooked , add in the semolina , stirring continuously .Add lemon juice , stir well and cover and leave on low flame for five minutes.When done turn off flame mix in chopped coriander and grated coconut and serve .
Vadai vadai ….Masala Vadai!
Trying to stick on to my resolution for 2014..starting on my blogging spree this post is very much for my little ones most favourite masala vadais ..a typical Tamilnadu recipe.These spicy fritters are simply great with coconut chutneys. I am posting here a write up that came up in Rashtra deepika ..a regionalnewspaper..
Heres the short interview that was aired on Radio Mango 91.9 FM..pls click on the link below…
Masala Vadai
2 cups of Chana dal soaked for about 30 mins & drained
3-4 green chillies chopped
2 dry red chillies chopped
1/2 tsp of Aniseed
a small piece of ginger cleaned and grated
5-6 shallots chopped
1 tsp of garammasala powder
3-4 tbsp of coriander leaves chopped
Oil for frying
Seperate 2 tbsp of soaked and drained chana dal and blend coarsely with all the rest of the ingredients to make a coarse mix.Add required amount of salt and the seperated dal to the ground mixture.Heat oil on mediun flame , pat a tablespoon of the mix on to your palm to prepare thin patties and deep fry till both sides are golden brown in color and drain on paper napkins.Serve hot with coconut chutney …
Tangy twist with Panchmel Dal!
Hope everyone celebrated their New year blast..so whts up with the resolutions…???My first and foremost resolution was to try to blog a bit more frequently 😛 ..the funniest part is how much I will be stickig on to it. One more day to go for the school to reopen and then back to the busy bee schedules…ahhh ..the first days are really goin to be damn lazy.Moreover the temperature over here has dropped down to around -2 ..which makes you longing to cuddle up even more into ur blankets..;)
Heres an interview on me which was printed in the magazine Sthreedhanam (Deepika Newspaper) in this months issue..
Heres the article that came up in Deshabhimani news paper on Jan 4th 2014
Now for this times post..thought of giving u all a tangy rajasthani recipe. This curry is a combination of 5 dals.I have earlier put up a recipe on 5 dal curry ..but this one is a tangy & spicy one…
Panchmel Dal
1/3 cup split bengal gram lentil
1/3 cup of yellow split peas
1/3 cup of green gram split lentils
1 tbsp of deskinned split black lentils
1 tbsp of green gram
3 tbsp of ghee
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of umin seeds
2 green chillies slit
a pinch of asafoetida
2 tsp of dry mango powder
2 tsp of tamarind pulp
Salt to taste
For masala paste
3 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Clean and wash the lentils.Pressure cook them with 4 cups of water till the lentils are cooked.Keep aside.In a bowl combine the ingredients for the masala paste with 3 tbsp of water to mix well to make a paste.Keep aside.Heat ghee in a pan and add cloves , bay leaves , cumin, green chilllies and asafoetida. When the cumin seeds crackle , add the prepared masala paste and saute on medium flame fo rabot 1-2 mins.Add the cooked dal , dry mango powder, tamarind pulp and salt and simmer fo r5- 7 minutes.Add water if required.Serve hot with rotis!
Woohoo..with Whoopie pies for DB!
December has been an awesome month for me with a rocking news that actually blew out my mind.Its my passion for Cooking that drove me into writing my book Lip Smacking Dishes of Kerala .I have put my heart and soul in the making of the book…giving life to every single page. Im so happy to share the news that my book is the Winner of THE BEST LOCAL CUISINE BOOK IN INDIA for the GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS 2013 to be held at Beijing in May 2014 and is eligible to compete for THE BEST LOCAL CUISINE BOOK IN THE WORLD. A big thanks to all my friends and family for your support ,blessings and prayers…………………..
This months challenge for the Daring Bakers was Whoopie pies.It was between a cake and cookie.It was fun baking as my assistant was actually my younger one.It was his choice that we bake Vanilla Whoopie pies.Heres the recipe……..
Whoopie Pies
2 ¾ cups(660 ml) (11-2/3 oz) (330 gm) flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
¾ teaspoon (3¾ gm) baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) (4 oz) (115 gm) butter, softened
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) ( (10-2/3 oz) (300 gm) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla
1 large egg
2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter,
granulated sugar and vanilla with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy; beat in the egg. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 batches; beat until just combined.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 16 mounds of batter onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches (50 mm) apart (about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) batter per cookie); gently form into rounds with damp fingers and smooth the tops. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6. Bake the cookies until they spring back when pressed, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely
Vanilla filling
Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) (8 oz) (225 gm) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) (1 oz) (30 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream (about 35%)
1 cup (2 sticks) (8 oz) (225 gm) unsalted butter, cool but not cold, cut into ½-inch (15 mm) cubes
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool, at least 7 minutes. (You can speed up the process by pressing bags of frozen berries or frozen corn against the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.) Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. You can’t overbeat this mixture. Just let it go until it’s nice and smooth. Add the vanilla and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the properconsistency.
My whoopies were quite big as my son was interested in scooping out..anyways he had his fun.Wishing all a wonderful baking ……
Wishing all a Happy & Prosperous 2014 ! 🙂
Ready for a creamy rice punch with Phirni!
Its half way through the month of December the festive moods are up and in Munnar its getting pretty cold with misty mornings.This post as usual was to be posted pretty early during the Diwali time but the time and tide for this post is only up now.”Phirni” this North Indian dessert served in earthen pots is best served cold if you are craving for a creamy dessert.The happenings in between my posts were that an article on me was in print in one of the leading Womens magazine of Kerala “Grihalakshmi”(November 1st edition) with some of my recipes..
Its been fun with my classes on Kerala cuisine in full swing …meeting new people and learning a lot more from them from food to lifestyle..and treasuring a bond of friendship. Hanny Abdullah a blogger from Malaysia had booked for my classes and it was fun to have them over.A big thanks to Hanny for writing about me and my classes on her blog..
http://www.diarymama.com/belajar-masakan-traditional-india/
Phirni
4 cups of full cream milk
1 cup of sugar powdered
3 tbsp of rice soaked in water for 1 hr , drained & ground into paste
1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
5-10 raisins
1 tbsp of rosewater
a big pinch of saffron soaked in 2tbsp of warm water.
20 almonds blanched , skinned &silvered
10 pistachios blanched, skinned & silvered
Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pot, add rice paste .Stir constantly with whisk, so that there are no lumps .When it is thick and creamy add the sugar and cardamom powder.Add raisins , rosewater and saffron mixture;mix well.Pour into earthen bowls (shakoras) or silver bowls .serve sprinkled with almonds and pistachios.These are best served cold 🙂
Creamy custard with creamy news :)
For the past two weeks have been wanting to pen down my events in life and as usual have not been able to do much.:P Hmm… where should I start …ok one day I was at school and get a mail with a notification with an invite to participate for an Indian Women Entrepreneurs Expo organised by Times of India.I speak to the people in charge and there goes a zing in my mind to participate for the event.Three days of fun at Abadplaza , Cochin.. totally new experience meeting many talented women in different areas of business.On the last day of the expo I was among the Best Ten Women Entrepreneurs of 2013..:)
I wanted to put up a creamy custardy recipe to give all the creamy effect that the event brought into my life.I was mentioned in writeups in Times of India ,Mathrubhumi and Deshabimani (a Malayalam newspaper) and was interviewed on All India Radio Cochin FM.So for all the good news up I thought of putting up a rich sweet and custardy Parsi recipe bookmarked from Goodfood.
Lagan nu Custard
4 cups of milk
150gms of sugar
6 eggs
400ml cream
1/2 cup of rosewater
50g of raisins
50 gms of almonds
1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
Butter to grease
Boil milk with sugar till it is reduced to 1/3rd of its original quantity.This takes about 20-30 minutes.Cool and keep aside.Preheat oven to180 degree celsius.Whisk eggs briskly and add all other ingredients except raisins to the reduced milk.Stir this into eggs and transfer to a greased baking pan.Bake in the oven for about 50-60 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean and it is cooked.Leave to cool and refrigerate a couple of hours before serving.Cut into desired shapes and serve chilled.The raisins are to be added when baking is half done.
Enjoy your custardy treat 🙂
Hi! I am Nimi Sunilkumar…an award winning cookbook author /culinary demonstrator/freelance writer / food photographer/food blogger …spiced with the flavors of food..
