Cardamom Ice cream

I am sure by now you all have heard about BloggerAid
The group is publishig a book and it seems the recipes in the book is from fooddie bloggers around the world. And the proceeds will go towards fighting hunger.
Must admitt Ivy and Val are the brains behind this huge priject.
You have till 31 st to send in you recipes? Check for the details here how you can submitt a recipe etc.... and if you have not yet joined BloggerAid do go and join up. It is for a wonderful cause. If you want to join up here are the details.

The creamy delicious Cardamom Ice cream is my contribution to the book.
It is a very refreshing ice cream especially if you had a wonderful Indian dinner.
I know you all are not surprised that i send a dessert as it is no secret I love sweets.
Can't write the recipe, you all have to wait till the book is out. I am really looking forwad to the book, can you imagine a cook book with inernational recipes.

The cheese pic I am sending for this months Click which is cheese.

I didn't had time to make somethin with cheese and didn't want to miss the event, so i opend up my Boursain cheese and just took a picture :-)

My entry for Click.

My daughter is having her carnival holidays from today, so I am aslo taking a break.
See you all in March .

Maa di dal

Mother is maa, and to call this punjabi curry " Mother's Lentils" significes the importance of the dish.
This is yet another recipe from my latest favourite book 660 curries from Raghavan Iyer.
If you love Indian cusine , then it is a must have book atleast I think so :-)

And I think this is a wonderful entry for Susan's event My Legume Love Affair - Eighth Helping so I am sending this to her place.

Ingridients.
I cup whole black lentils ( sabud urad)
1/2 cup yellow split peas
6 garlic cloves
2 lengthwise slice giner
4 fresh green chilies
2 bay leaves
2 cinamon sticks
4 green or black cardamom pods
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 cup finley chopped fresh onions.
1 cup crushed tomatoes or toamto sauce or canned ones
2 TSP SALT
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 cup cooked red beans ( I used dried beans and cooked them in thepressure cooker)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp of corriander leaves.

In this book he cooked the lentils in a pot, I just put all the lentils ( soaked overnight) and cooked them in the pressure cooker, together with the minced ginger , garlic and chillies and the cardamom, cinamon and bay leaves.

Add 2 tbsp of the ghee in a pan and when it is hot add the cummin seeds and cook till they sizzle. Add the onions and stir fry untill they are golden brown. 3 to 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium low and add the tomatoes, chillie powder and saly. Simer the sauce , partially covered, stirring occasionaly, untill some of the ghee starts to seperat on the surface. 6 to 10 minutes.
Once the legumes are cooked stir in the sauce the cooked lentils and the cream . Add 1 cup of water if it is too thick, stir once or twiwce.
Cover the pan and simmer over medium heat stirring occasionalyn untill the flavours mingle, 5 to 10 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 2 tbsp of ghee and the corriander leaves and serve.

Arrabbiata Pasta

It is the time again this month for this time i was paired with Cath of The Canberra Cook
From her place I made this pasta dish called Arrabbiata Pasta , you can get the recipe here only Changes I made was she used bacon and i used Italian pancetta and also used tinned tomatoe other than it the recipe stays the same. Also added parsley.
Made this for today's lunch and in between I am taking pics in real hurry.
I just took two pic of the dish hopping one will come out without the steam :-)

Sending this to presto pasta nights which is hosted at Noob Cook .

Rista

The title of the recipe is Rista it just means Ground lamb meat balls with a saffron sauce.

I got this book 660 curriesby Raghavan Iyer, in last years Raffel prize.

I had it for few months on my night table, and I did look through the recipes, but i am a virtual person and there was not that much pictures in the book so I didn't make any dishes from this book untill I saw in sia place a dish whcih she made and me the silly one made it from her place simply because I could see how the end result was looking.

After making that dish, I think I have not kept this book down as it has so much yummy delicious recipes and till now I have tried few of the recipes from this book and it was always a hit in my place.

According to my hubby the book is a god send as I have made some new delicious dishes which I would have never ever made.

One of them is these delicious Kashmiri balls.

They are so mild in taste but so yummy yumm and the sauce is just WOW.

Ingridients:

8 ounces lean ground lamb

1/2 small red onion finley chopped ( i added white as i didn't have red)

1 tsp fennel seed ground

1 tsp black cummin seed powder

1 tsp ginger puree ( you can use ginger powder)

1 tsp salt

2 large clove garlic finley chopped

2 tbsp oil

1 cup half and half ( I had no idea what this was so i just added light cream)

1 tbsp Kashmiri garam masala

1/2 tsp saffron threads.

You don't have to do the exact measurement of spices, play around with them. Add more or less you want. According to your taste buds.

Mix the lamb, salt fennel, cummin, ginger, onion and garlic together in a bowl.

Make the meat into small balls.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
Add the meat balls in a singl layer and cook gentley moving them around every few minutes untill they are evenly browned, 7 to 10 minutes. I clossed with a lid so that the meat can steam a bit inside and then turned around the meat every few minutes.

Pout the half and hald into the meatballs and sprinkle in the garam masala and saffron. Raise the heat to medium high and simmer the curry .
Cook the curry for 10 minutes or til the meat ball is cooked fully.
Serve them with roties or steamed rice.

This recipe also goes to the event Think Spice.. Think Twice: Mastic Gum and Fennel Seeds. hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste

 

Tutty Fruitty Cake

When i saw this in Sowmya's place Creative Saga I have been wanting to made them. Then yesterday I saw them in Divyas place Easy Cooking so what do I do today afternoon make these as Sowmya made for FIC yellow adding a bit of yellow colour so i thought i will add a bit orange colour and theni can send to FIC orange.

I sticked to the recipe, but added only half suagr and added less oil and milk. Also added 1 tbsp vanilla essence.
Most of my fruits went to the bottom, but still the cake was soft and yummy.

Do you think this cake is looking orange???? Then if it is I am going to send this to Aparna for her FIC event which she is hosting which was started by Harini of Tongue Ticklers .

Cranberry and Dark chocolate cookies.

This is yet another baking goodie I have made from The Goddess's Kitchen and the Goddess can really bake cookies and cakes, she is a real proof of that.
She is another baker I never miss a post as I know it will be something yummy she is whipping up in her oven.
The moment I saw these Cranberry and white chocolate cookies I knew I was going to make them. And that was last week. When it comefor baking goodies I am fast.
It is the first time I am using oats in any kind of cooking as I don't like oats ( for me oats reminds me of those mushy mush , I call them thing that my mom and all eat for breakfast saying it is really healthy for you).
I still don't want them for breakfast, but I love them in cookies.
These cookies were really DELICIOUS. I will be making these much more often and they are so easy to make. And the taste it is so so yummy.

I baked them yesterday and when my daughter came home for lunch I told her I am going to make cookies with white chocolate and she told me if i would make them with dark chocolate as she don't like white. So i made with dark chocolate and used walnuts. Maria made them with white chocolate and pecan nuts.
Nags havve been giving wonderful tips for taking pictures in her place . So I did few of the things she wrote one should do.
I took more pictures than usual and my pictures are always so dark, it could be also mostly i take my pictures in the evening or there is no light inside.
She gave a tip take them in your balcony and that is what i did yesterday. I took the plate of cookies to the balcony and clicked hoping next door guys are not watching a crazy women taking pictures of few cookies in a plate :-)

I have to admit the picture is much more brighter than my usual pictures.

Makes 30
Ingredients
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
75g rolled oats (not instant)
125g soft butter
75g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar ( next time when i make, i won't add this sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dried cranberries
50g pecans, roughly chopped ( i used walnuts)
150g white chocolate chips ( i used dark chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350°F/gas mark 4.
Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.

Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork.

You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.Cook for 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes.

Remove with a spatula to cool fully on a wire rack.
I halfed the above recipe as hey we are just with three here.
Sending this to Aquadeze for her Lets go nuts : walnuts and Pecan event.

Satay Ayam

I should say Spicy Chicken Satay with peanut sauce.
I know I am a bit late in posting the satay recipe for Meeta's event. I just found out that she has posted the round up :-) yeah i am late, I have no idea how everybody keep up with the event, before I just went to TOI and looked there as it was written in a calander and I knew when the event was ending.
Anyway I missed the deadline :-(
Still I thought I will post these delicious satay.
This is what we had for saturday dinner.

The original recipe is from Madur jaffery's book Far eastern cookery. I bought this book after getting married year and years back . In the begning i used exactly as she told but then in the years I have added more things to the marinade as i see in other books some ingridients and then next time i add them to the marinade.
In the years it has devoloped to a totaly different one than the original recipe.
The peanut sauce I stick to her original recipe as they are easy to make and i think they are yummy.

For the satay.
Chicken breas 3. cut in bite size pieces
2 cloves garlic chopped
I tbsp ginger paste
1 small onion finley chopped
2 tsp light soysauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 to 2 tbsp kejap Manais (you can buy this in the chinese or indoneasin or thai shops, it is a thick syrupy sauce)
1 tbsp corriander powdder
1 to 2 chillies chopped fine
1 stich leamon grass chopped.
1 tbsp oil

You don't have to take the correct measurments for the marinade, make it according to your taste.

Mix above ingridients and keep in the fridge overnigh covered with a cling film.
Thread the skewer with the marinated chicken piece ( if you are using the bamboo sticks soak the sticks in cold water for 30 minutes so they don't burn while they are in the oven)
You can grill the chicken skewers I did in the oven.
Preheat the oven 200°C and cook then in the oven for 20 to 52 minutes or till they are done, turing the chieken skewers once or twice.
While the chicken is cooking make the peanut sauce.
For the peanut sauce.
100 gm roasted peanuts
2 garlic cloves
25 gm shallots finley chopped.
1 tsp chillie powder
salt according to your taste
1 tsp brown sugar
2 absp oil
450 ml water
1 absp of corn flour
3 to 4 tbsp of lime juice.

Put the peanuts into a gringer and grind them as finley as possible.
Heat the oil and add the onione and garlic, when they are softened add the ground peanuts,chillie powder, salt , sugar and water.
Stir and bring to boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Mix a bit of water in the corn flour and add to the peanut sauce to make it a bit thicker. You only have to do this if you sauce is a bit wattery.
Ad dthe lime juice to the sauce and serve with the chicken satay.

Mousse au Chocolat

Did I say I was addicted to chocolate and I had almost everyone comenting they are also addicted to chocolate like me, so for all of you out there I am making this Mousse au Chocolat , I know any small excuse is enough for me to make something with chocolate.

From the time I have seen this Chocolate Mousse @ What's For Lunch Honey? I have been wanting to make them. After making this and tasting this Mousse I curse myself for not making them much much earlier as they wer super super Delicious.
No more mousse from the suprmarket in those small plastic tubs, they just taste so sweet and blubber compared to this delicious mousse.

I will be making this much much more often as my daughter and hubby loved it too.
Thankyou Meeta for another wonderful dessert recipe.
I followed the recipe full, except i added 50 ml Apricot liqueur

Meeta had mentioned It really is worth getting a more expensive type of chocolate for this dessert and living in Belgium there is no shortage of good quality of chocolate. I always use Callebaut Chocolate.
Yesterday when I was talking to my sister, I mentioed to her I made this delicious Chocolate mousse and she told me post recipe fast as she too wanted to make them. Chocolate additction we keep it in the family :-)

And ofcourse what do I find today that DK as announced AWED French so sending this to her.

100 - 120g Bitter chocolate - make sure it is an exclusive type of chocolate It really is worth getting a more expensive type of chocolate for this dessert.
15g Butter
2 eggs - separated
50 ml apricot liqueur I added together with the yolks. (optional)
200 ml cream - beaten until stiff

DELICIOUS

I MW the chocolate with the butter. Set aside and mix for 30 seconds to cool.

Add the egg yolks and mix. You will notice the chocolate takes on a thicker consistency. Allow to cool further.
Gently fold in the beaten cream.
Beat the egg whites until very stiff. These are also to be folded in very carefully into the chocolate, cream mixture. When the entire mixture is well combined, the consistency should be smooth and fluffy.
Divide the mixture in small serving bowls and allow to cool for several hours.

Meeta's advice: Make this the evening prior to serving. The mousse has then had a chance to chill through and has a velvety, fluffy texture.

I totally agree as I had one two hours of cooling and another one the next day and the one which I had next day was much better in texture.

Another dessert I made from her place Mango Pannacotta she made from strawberry I used mango.
Sending this also to which is hosted by Mele Cotte.

Turkey Strongonoff

One of the blogs I check freequently is Closet Cooking every time I am there, I bookmark the delicious food I see there and there is indeed a lot of yummy food there, now a days I stopped bookmarking, saying to myself if i want to cook something special, I will go to Kevins place and see what I can make.
The moment I saw this strogonoff recipe there I knew i was going to make them.
He made with pork chops, I made them with turkey that is the only difference oh and i added different variety of mushrooms.

Here at home we all really enjoyed this dish especially my daughter and hubby, both of them were like really delicious.
If you want to recreate this just hop over there for the recipe

I made the dish in the morning for eveining dinner and was not sure if i will be able to take a picture in the evening so took this picture before I added the sour cream :-)
Didn't had to as I had time to take picture in the evening as you see there is sour cream added in the first pic and it look creamy and thick.