Festive vibes , Buchmesse & Bread pudding !
Its been a few months of happenings all through .In October at last I happened to be at Frankfurt World bookfair representing my cookbooks at the Worlds Largest Book Fair representing India.With all the set of mishaps with last year Frankfurt fair it was quite nerve wracking till I got my visa.To be at the Frankfurt fair was a big moment and meeting up with some of the most wonderful people was even the most memmorable moment.Catching up with most of the cookbook authors after the awards in May was even more exciting .My kiddos were’nt quite happy of me travelling without them …well I truly missed them ..I just couldn’t help myself from from laughing when they used to call me up and complaint about each other ..on Skype! Gosh ! My pranksters !!!
Back from Frankfurt and it was a whirlwind of happenings .. with my fathers accident ..and a few weeks later my uncle passed away ..it was a quite a bit of shock ..my father is still in the process of recovering ..and I really hope to have him all healthy …In the midst of all this I was featured on the cover of a leading magazine in Kerala , “Karshakasree”
Now on to the recipe of the Italian Bread Pudding .I just love this super quick pudding …
- 1tbsp of butter
- 2 apples , peeled , cored and sliced in to rings
- 85g granulated sugar
- 2tbsp of apple juice
- 4 thick slices of bread with the crusts removed
- 300ml of fresh cream
- 2eggs beaten
- Rind of 1 orange , cut into short thin sticks
- Lightly grease a 1.2 litre deep casserole with butter .
- Arrange the apple rings in the bottom of the dish .Sprinkle half of the sugar over the apples.Pour the juice over the apples.Add the bread slices , pushing them down with your hands to flatten them slightly .
- In a bowl mix the left over sugar with the orange rind and cream .Pour the mixture over the bread .Set aside to soak for about 30minutes .Preheat oven at 180degree celsius and bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden and set .Remove from oven , set aside to cool slightly and serve warm .
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Spicin up the win of “4 o’ clock temptations of Kerala “
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Indeed the thrill and joy of achievement is just unexplainable. Last year in the month of July when I was at my parents place for the monsoon break from school , I least expected the outcome of my long awaited cookbook “4 o’ clock temptations of Kerala” .I have had the craziest as well as the most unexpected circumstances when I look back .I lost the data of my book thrice and then send it for print .Things were totally haywire with my harddisk broken , my laptops display dead and so on ….it was just never ending and I had time constraints as I was to exhibit my books at the Frankfurt World Book fair …When the book print was all sorted just two days before my flight I am informed that my visa got rejected ..It was totally devastating 🙁 ..to top all these my son was down with pneumonia .I tried my level best ..but unfortunately I couldnt make it to Frankfurt .The books were exhibited there as my brother was there for the event ..but it took me months to recover from the mishaps .
Whatever happened, happened for good.
Whatever is happening, is happening for good.
Whatever will happen, that will be for good as well. –
Bhagvad Gita
Its taken me a very long time to share with all of you the news of my book , but as its told better late than never ..so I am very happy , excited, thrilled, ..you can take up all the synonyms that can go with it ….to share with you all tht my cookbook , “4 o’ clock temptations of Kerala ” which is on the snacks of Kerala cuisine has won “Best Indian cookbook in the world ” for the Gourmand world cookbook awards 2015-16 from 209 countries representing India .I seriously had no words to say on stage… when I was called up I was in all tears ….
Its great to win the Gourmand awards the second time and experience the whole event .Earlier it was for my cookbook “Lip smacking Dishes of Kerala” which won the 3rd Best Local Cuisine book in the world for 2013-14 at the Gourmand World cookbook awards from 187 countries representing India , held at Beijing , China .
Now to spice up all this news I have a recipe for a pickle that I made from the garden fresh cherry tomatoes…
- 1/4kg cherry tomatoes
- 2tbsp of kashmiri chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
- 2-3 green chillies chopped
- 1 small piece of ginger finely chopped
- 1 tsp of mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds
- 1/4 tsp of asafoetida powder
- 2-3 tbsp of oil
- 1/2 tsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of vinegar
- salt to taste
- 2-3 sprigs of curry leaves
- Heat a pan , add oil and fry the tomatoes till they shrink in size and seperate.In the remaining oil , pop mustard seeds, add fenugreek , ginger, green chillies and stir fry them for a minute or two on med flame .Lower the flame and stir in the turmeric and kashmiri chilli powder .Once the oil starts seperating add in the vinegar .I added a little extra vinegar so that i can cook the the sauce a bit more .You can also add water but that at times accelarates mould growth in the pickle .
- Now mix in the fried tomatoes , add sugar , asafoetida , salt and curry leaves .Turn off the flame and let it cool before you bottle them .
- Enjoy these pickles with rice or rotis ...
A few months back when Facebook team contacted me to do a video on my journey from a homemaker to an entrepreneur I had no clue of what to expect .My latest cookbook “4 o’ clock temptations of Kerala ” won the “Best Indian cuisine book in the world” for the Gourmand world cookbook awards 2015-16.A few weeks back I received an email from Facebook India with the statistics of the reach…”The video had reached 600,000 people across India! The video itself has been viewed 300,000 times ”
I whole heartedly thank all the wonderful people who had viewed,supported,encouraged ,shared and liked the video .Kudos to YourStory for the wonderful video 🙂
Watch how Nimi Sunilkumar's Cooking School used Facebook to spread awareness of her cooking classes and grow her business.
Posted by Facebook on Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Greg Grano and Sarah Sellman two wonderful filmmakers from SanFrancisco did a portfolio on me for the website Hooplaha-Only good news ..it was just magic as the video is very close to my heart ..
Its crazy when I look back and see how my passion for food has created magic …the magic of following my heart!!!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
The Impeccable crave for Caramel Custard :)
A spin of the time wheel and back to being a child …..gosh wish that happened !!!When you are a child all you wish is to be a grown up and you get to do things that you want to do and when you are grown up you are more bounded with all the worldly expectations that you least expected …well that’s life !!!
The school has closed down for a ten day break and I am at my home (hehe..of course my parents’ home ).For the past few months it’s been a suffocating schedule that I have been hooked up to with my younger one being a bit sick .There’s loads of news that has yet to be shared..a few are waiting to be yet unfolded.
Today’s post is one that I have always longed to post …Baked Caramel custard!
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 can condensed milk
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 2 tsps of cornflour
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup of milk
- In a bowl using blender mix all the ingredients except sugar till creamy. Heat a non-stick pan and melt the sugar without stirring till the sugar is wholly caramelized. Pour the caramelized sugar on to the base of the baking dish to coat the base evenly. Pour the creamy mix over it .Preheat oven at 180 degree and bake the custard for about 60 minutes or longer till the custard is set in a water bath in the oven. Once baked remove it from the water bath and let it cool down .Run a knife on the edges of the pan and invert it on to a plate. Cut in desired shapes and serve .
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Tahini cookies to spring up the festive spirits !!!
With the start of the festive break at school have been planning to put better use of the time that I save on from my busy bee schedule.I had met Orly Ziv author of “The Israeli cookbook”-a charming woman with a captivating smile during my visit to Beijing for the Gourmand World cookbook awards. Little did I know that our friendship would help us meet each other again in Munnar.It was the biggest surprise for me when Orly wrote to me that she had plans to come to Kerala and would love to meet up .We met up in May and had the best moments together..one of her gifts was the special tahini paste from Israel .It’s Christmas and heres a recipe for Tahini Almond cookiesfrom her cookbook that kept me craving for more..
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 150g unsalted butte
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp of water
- 1 cup of tahini
- almond silvers optional
- Preheat oven to 175 degree celsius
- In food processor blend all the flours, butter sugar , vanilla and salt till the mix becomes like coarse crumbs.Add water and tahini and process until smooth dough begins to form. Remove the dough from the food processor bowl and knead it a few times on the counter until smooth.Create small balls of the dough, place them on the baking sheet, then flatten each one slightly with your fingers.Press an almond silver on to the top of each cookie.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or untilgolden brown.Cool and serve.
Heres the interview that was aired on the Timesgroup channel “Magic bricks now” in the show Great Getaways
So heres wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas !!!!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
A revive ..with the delectable crab curry !
It’s after a gap of about 6 months that I am posting today….I had been head over heels on a few commitments that were lagging on .There were bubbles of happiness and a few perks of disappointments in this time span ..and after all thats all about life .The photos were always all set for my posts..but scheduling out my time to post was the hardest part …with my classes and working on my biggest project which was my new cookbook…”4 ‘o’clock temptations of Kerala”. This year I was invited over to the world’s largest book fair “The Frankfurt Book fair 2015” to represent my cookbooks. I was one among the 5 Indians to be a part of the Gourmet Gallery at the fair. Although I couldn’t make it at the last minute to the fair my new cookbook on the snacks of Kerala were exhibited at the fair….Thanks to my brother and the Frankfurt fair team .My new cookbook is an insight to the authentic snack recipes of Kerala.
The new cookbook would be soon out for sale on my blog and other sites for sale within a month…
So with all this hotchpotch at the background my recipe for today’s palette is a Srilankan Crab curry .This recipe was adapted from the cookbook “Saraogini’s Srilanka food” by Sarogini Kamalanathan. A very composed and loving lady whom I had met during my visit to Beijing for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards last year in May 2014…she was Sarojini ..We had exchanged our cookbooks and I have been cooking many wonderful recipes from her collections….
- 3 medium sized crabs, cleaned & prepared
- 2tbsp of oil
- 1 large onion sliced
- 1tbsp fenugreek seeds
- 1tsp mustard seeds
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
- 2 green chillies slit
- 2 tbsp of paprika powder
- 1 cup of water
- 1 ½ cup of coconut milk
- Sprig of drumstick leaves(muringa leaves)/ coriander leaves
- Heat oil in an earthen pot or a heavy bottomed vessel , add fenugreek , splutter mustard seeds and sauté the onions till they caramelise, add green chillies, chilli powder , salt and stir. Add in the prepared crabs, pour in the water, give a good stir cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes. When the crabs have turned a nice orange colour ,add the coconut milk and slightly simmer for another 10 minutes, turn off the heat and garnish with fresh muringa leaves or coriander leaves and serve ..
- Its best to cook the crab curry at the least an hour before you serve ..
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Made with love , for the celebration of love..velvety delight!!
The celebration of Valentine’s day gets popular with every passing day .A day dedicated to your loved ones..that’s how its been captioned ..so dedicating this post to my family and my dearest ones ..with loads of love 🙂
The best recipe to try out on Valentine’s day are the Red Velvet cupcakes. Red velvet cupcakes are super moist cupcakes which are mostly dark red, bright red or red-brown in color. The red color is often with adding beetroots or food color.
- 1 ½ cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup oil
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp vinegar
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 1 tsp of red food colour
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cream cheese
- ½ cup butter
- 2 ½ cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
- Line pans with cupcake liners.
- Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa and salt set aside.
- In a mixing bowl beat egg, oil, buttermilk , red food colour and vanilla essence.
- Fold in the flour mix without any lumps.
- In a small bowl mix baking soda and vinegar till the mix is bubbling, add it to batter
- and mix.
- Pour the batter into cupcake liners bake for 15 mins or till a skewer inserted comes
- out clean.
- Let it cool and top the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium bowl add with electric mixer combine cream cheese and butter till
- creamy.
- Mix vanilla &powdered sugar.
- Mix till everything is combined.
- Use frosting to frost the cupcakes.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Sago Gulu Melaka..the easy peasy pudding!!
Off with all the birthday celebrations of my munchkins..both happy to have their birthdays celebrated with their friends…the best part is making time for their wishes and never-ending menus…the twinkle of happiness that their eyes have is so very mystical. They can be the most naughtiest, the best friends worst enemies when stubborn..he he ..its all in the game ..I was the same 😉
Today’s recipes credit goes to Khairul from Malaysia who is a foodie and blogger. I remember the day he had whatsapped me on the availability of classes. It was when he had dropped in with his friends for the class that I knew that he had been for long a follower of my blog…an avid and very much talented foodie! The first time I read about the pudding was long back …it was one afternoon that it struck me that Khairul would have more info on this dessert…
“Sago Gulu Melaka” a local Malaysian dessert. This is a really quick and easy recipe for dessert with just 4 main ingredients. The pandan leaf is known as the vanilla of the east because of its unique aroma. These leaves are used in Indonesian, Singaporean, Filipino, Malaysian, Thai, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, Chinese, Sri Lankan, Khmer, and Burmese foods, especially rice dishes, cakes, and desserts.
- 300 GMS of Sago (Sabudana)
- 100 GMS of Sugar
- 80 GMS of Palm Sugar (Gulu Melaka)
- 1 tbsp of Vanilla Essence / 1 pandan leaf
- 3/4 cup of Coconut Milk
- Boil 2 litre of water with sago until the sago cooks well.
- Strain the sago in a sieve and lightly wash off the starch under cold running water.
- Place the sago in small bowls, level the top and freeze for about 30 minutes.
- In a saucepan heat the coconut milk till it starts boiling and keeps aside.
- In another saucepan cook palm sugar with sugar and the ¾ cup of water till the sugar
- dissolves with the vanilla essence / pandan leaf and makes syrup.
- While serving separate the sago shapes on to plates and pour coconut milk and
- sugar syrup over it.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Christmas bells n Scones!!!
There’s the end of another year….. 2014 is slowly winding up..and it’s time for new resolutions !!!! .The holidays for Christmas have started ….break till the 5th of Jan 2015 when the new term is going to start off at school .My elder one Surji is off enjoying his break with his cousins at his father’s house and Siva with me my nonstop blabbering companion. It’s better to hear that my health is catching up from last week’s review at the doc..but the craziest thing is when everyone who meet up with me after a few days have been asking me , ”Oh Nimi u seem to be enjoying your break from school ..You have put on weight!!!” Ha! And the actual truth I feel quite bloated up and tired …an effect from the medications. A worried me asks my doc once in a while ..if I would become my actual self ..She smiles and says ….”all will be well once the course is completed!!”Hmm ….Hope for the best ! So before I get too lazy and sleepy in writing this post ..let me hop on to the recipe of Scones…and thank u Sylvia….here’s picking out and trying recipes from your book 😉
Scone is a single serving cake or quick bread. They are often lightly sweetened and are occasionally glazed. These are different from the normal sweet buns which are normally made from yeast. There are different types of scones and the variants differ from the places .In some countries they also have the savory scones. Scones are normally served with tea or coffee.
- 200ml fresh cream
- 3 cups of flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 4 ½ tsp of baking powder
- 1 cup lemonade
- Flour for dusting
- For Lemonade
- 1 ½ cup of water
- 4-5 tbsp of sugar
- Juice of 3 lemons
- To make the lemonade first boil water, stir in sugar till it dissolves well and then
- remove from heat.
- Let the syrup cool and mix in the lemon juice and keep aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt twice into a bowl.
- Make a well in the center and pour in the lemonade and cream.
- Use wooden spoon and slightly fold in to make slightly sticky dough.
- Dust flour on your counter; roll the dough slightly mixing the dough to keep it from
- sticking.
- Pat out the dough about 4cm thick with your hands, sprinkling flour when kneaded.
- Use a scone cutter or a circle shaped cutter to cut out circles.
- Place these shapes on to a baking tray and leave them to rise for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 230 degree Celsius and bake these scones for about 15-20 minutes
- or until they are golden in colour.
- Eat them warm /cold topped with jam, butter or cheese.
So Wishing all a very Merry Christmas!!!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Hi! I am Nimi Sunilkumar…an award winning cookbook author /culinary demonstrator/freelance writer / food photographer/food blogger …spiced with the flavors of food..
