Keerai Molagootal/ Mildly spiced spinach lentil coconut curry

Aug 11, 2015 · 21 Comments

Delicious greens and lentil with touch of coconut and mild spices.Heat is killing us; yes it is very hot outside even after 7.30 PM the temperature it is high. So my plants are drying up even after watering every day. No matter how many times we water the plants, plants like rain rather than the tap water. I wish it would rain for a day, don’t know when my wish will come true as the weatherman is predicting another hot weekend. Coming to this Keerai Moolagootal, it is one of typical Tamil Brahmin Palakkad style recipe. Yes it is around 217 miles from my home town Thiruvanthapuram. I make this dish very often however only got a chance to take the picture yesterday.
I learnt this recipe from this blog Ammupati’s thoughts; I don’t know why aunty is not blogging now, may be busy with her grand kids. She makes traditional recipes just like my mom and grandma. I like to refer her recipes. Our normal lunch or dinner menu includes rice, a curry, side dishes like thoran or mezhukupuratti , spicy pickle, and is sometimes accompanied by pappadam/ fried wafers made of urad dal/split black gram.

I buy spinach for hubby‘s lunch box, and do make spinach rice very often, but sometimes I make Keerai sambar/ Spinach and dal spicy curry just like my mom. She adds sambhar powder to everything that is her secret ingredients to make tasty dishes. Since I made spinach rice and Keerai sambar already this week I decide to make Keerai molagootal. The taste is a blend of all the vegetables, and lentils, and fresh coconut. Molagootal can be made with mixed vegetables (raw banana, pumpkin, winter melon, chena, koorka, payar), spinach (keerai), banana stem, cabbage, broccoli you name it. However traditional recipe is with spinach (kerrai) and that too has variety. Since it is a traditional recipe, mom and grandma used the vegetable available in their backyard garden. I still remember my grandma’s spinach garden; she would plant both green and red spinach. I love red spinach thoran also which I miss here.

Also miss any time tea drinking habits. Yes in Kerala, we just go out drink tea any time of the day. We used to ask our friends, oru chaya kudikan poruno? Are you coming to drink a tea?

Coming back to Keerai Molagootal you need a bunch of spinach, half cup fresh grated coconut. Spice up with green chili flavor them with little cumin, that is it your keerai moolagootal is ready.
Here comes the recipe. Next traditional recipe which in list is Keerai masiyal.

Keerai Moolagootal/ Mildly spiced spinach lentil coconut curry

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Keerai Moolagootal/ Mildly spiced spinach lentil coconut curry

Delicious Keerai Moolagootal made with spinach, lentil and coconut, mildly spiced curry goes well rice.

Ingredients

1 bunch of spinach ( About 3 cup chopped)
½ cup Toor dal( Spilt pigeon pea)
½ cup fresh grated coconut
2 Red chili
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 ½ teaspoon urad dal
1 teaspoon coconut oil
For seasoning
1 teaspoon coconut oil
½ teaspoon Urad dal( split black gram)
2 Red chilies whole
1 sprig curry leaves

Instructions

Wash and drain the greens,

and cook until it is soft and set aside for cool grind to a paste.

Pressure cooks the toor dal with turmeric powder.

Heat 1 teaspoon of the coconut oil to this add 1 ½ teaspoon urad dal and 2 red chilli broken into bits, fry till the dal is pink in color. Remove from the heat.

Grind coconut with fried dal and chili and cumin seeds/ jeera to a smooth paste.

Add the cooked toor dal and boil for 5 minutes. Add the ground coconut paste and add enough water to get pouring consistency.

Then add the spinach puree with salt and bring it to boil.

Remove from the stove.
Heat the remaining oil, add the mustard seeds when they splutter, add the urad dal and curry leaves when the dal turns pink, pour into the keerai molagootal.

Notes

This recipe adapted from here

How to Propagate Rosemary from the Sprig

Aug 5, 2015 · 11 Comments

Both I and hubby are avid lovers of gardening. We have a small garden in our backyard. Before we had kids there were lots of roses, flowers and veggies planted in our garden. Nowadays with two kids who always enjoy taking out the potted plant rather than planting them the amount of gardening has reduced. Still we plant some veggies every year, especially black beans and kidney beans. I also have a rosemary bush in my garden and wanted to transfer it to the potted plant for long time.
After researching a lot, I found a way of propagating rosemary from the sprig. I did try that method and was successful.
So I decided to share with you as it might be helpful for everybody. I didn’t prune the rosemary so it is more like a bush and nowadays it is drying up in the bottom as the heat is around 100 ⁰F for entire week.

Cut the rosemary sprig like this.

Then remove the leaves from the bottom part.

Make sure to remove the skin in the bottom part of sprig.

Leave them in bottle filled with water, if you want you can add some root enhancing liquid.

Keep it aside for few weeks. Change the water when it changes the color. Within a week or two you will be able to see the root.

Once you see strong single root transfer them into a pot.

Let it grow in the pot for some days before transferring it into the soil. Rosemary grows better in the ground just like any other plant.
Give it try you will succeed for sure. If you already grown rosemary from the sprig, please share your ideas and tips I would love to know.

Fasulye Piyazi – Turkish bean salad with vegetables and olives

Aug 3, 2015 · 14 Comments

Delicious and healthy Fasulye Piyazi ,Turkish Bean Salad with Vegetables and olives and served with boiled eggs.

Mediterranean cuisines as it uses mild spices and oils like olive oil, olives itself.

This Fasulye Piyazi, Turkish bean salad with vegetables you can make with ripe olives

You need following ingredients to make this Fasulye Piyazi.

White kidney beans,

Red onions,

black olives,

sumac

zaatar

olive oil,

salt

boiled eggs

flat leaf parsley.

What is Fasulye Piyazi?

Fasulye Piyazi is a beans salad made with vegetables and olives and dressing to go with made from sumac-cayenne-cumin- chili dressing. Yes sumac, cayenne, cumin and hot chili pepper are common spices used in Turkish cuisine.

How to make Fasulye Piyazi?

You can use canned beans or cooked dried beans to make this salad. If you are using dried beans then soak white kidney beans overnight, and the next morning

I cooked them in pressure cook for about 20 minutes (that is easiest way of cooking beans).

Then added onion, tomato, parsley and sliced black ripe olives.

While beans were cooking I made the dressing. Half an hour before you are ready to serve, toss the dressing into beans, vegetables and olives.

Arrange on a serving plate and garnish with the boiled halved eggs and some more black olives. Serve immediately or refrigerate until you are ready.

Health benefits of eating this salad

White kidney beans are rich in fiber so it reduces blood sugar; reduce cholesterol levels as it is rich in foliate.

Black ripe olives are as good as they taste, and contain vitamin E, iron, vitamin A, and fiber.

Traditionally this salad is served along with Turkish style meatballs and pickled cucumber and peppers.

You can make this salad as a great alternative for lunch, served with some nice crusty bread or in can be a part of a meze spread.

If you ask me the taste, I would say tangy lemony sumac perfectly blend with spicy chili and earthy, nutty, spicy cumin dressing matched with subtle white kidney beans. Veggies like onion, tomato and black olives played perfect counterpart in this salad.

For Other Turkish recipes

Turkish salad

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Fasulye Piyazi – Turkish bean salad with vegetables and olives

Delicious Fasulye Piyazi Turkish beans salad which healthy and protein rich.

Prep Time8 10

Total Time8 10

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Turkish

Keyword: Bean salad, Turkish recipes, Turkish Cusine

Servings: serving

Calories: 449kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

¾ cup dried White kidney beans/cannelloni beans
¼ red onion thinly sliced
2 medium tomatoes roughly chopped
¼ cup California ripe olives sliced
1 hard boiled egg quartered
A handful of flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
½ teaspoon salt or to taste

For Sumac Cayenne-chili-dressing

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground sumac
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cumin powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Soak dried white kidney beans overnight
and next morning pressure cooks them for about 20 minutes or 2 whistles. Drain the water using a colander
While beans cooking make the dressing, in a bowl add sumac, cayenne, chili, cumin powder
and add lemon juice and mix well
then mix in olive oil while whisking well
. Add the onion, chopped tomatoes, half of the olives, parsley into the bowl.
Then add cooked beans and pour dressing over this mixture.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and combine well. Arrange on a serving plate and garnish with the eggs and remaining olives.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Watermelon Cucumber salad with Blue Cheese and Blue cheese Paratha

Jul 28, 2015 · 11 Comments

“ I am Partnering with Castello for a Summer of Blue campaign, However all opinions are mine"

Happy #Bluesday Tuesday friends; for me summer means grilling and enjoying fresh fruits especially juicy watermelon, strawberries and blueberries. I am cheese fan and love to try variety of cheeses whenever I get a chance. What will you do when you get amazing opportunity to try Blue cheese? Here is a full meal incorporated with blue cheese for you. First I made Water melon cucumber salad with blue cheese then tried Blue cheese Paratha. Yes flat bread stuffed with Blue cheese.

When Honest Cooking and Castello contacted me about their #Bluesday Tuesday campaign, at first lot recipes that I could try flashed through my mind, crackers, cookies and bread. Skipped the idea of making of all these because crackers which only I and hubby will eat, cookies my kids love it, but not sure about the blue cheese cookies. Enjoying blue cheese requires some acquired taste and thought that we won’t like the taste of the cookies, then thought about making bread with it. As blue cheese is soft cheese if it ooze out easily then there will be no cheese left at the end of the baking ruining the bread. One more thing blue cheese is at two extreme either you like it or hate it.
We are salad eating family, so decide to try watermelon cucumber salad with blue cheese. Sweet watermelon with cucumber and onion made perfect companion with Blue cheese. I used white wine vinaigrette with touch of honey and Dijon mustard. Taste wise this salad has everything you can expect in a small bowl, yes, sweet, tangy, spicy and buttery. Yes blue cheese added buttery tanginess which made this salad more delectable.

Due to my Indian roots I always try do fusion version. So this time too I didn’t want to lose that chance. I made blue cheese paratha. Paratha or Paranthas is a North Indian flat bread stuffed with vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower or radish etc. You can do either stuffed version of these veggies with whole wheat flat bread or you can add the stuffing while making the dough for flat bread. I made stuffing with spring onions, carrot and ginger and spice powders and off course the star of the show was blue cheese.

Then comes the big hurdle of stuffing them into whole wheat dough, I tried traditional way of making paratha, however blue cheese doesn’t want to stay inside and it starts oozing out while making. So tired this idea where first spread the dough into two flat bread; then stuff and seal and cook. It worked like a charm. It was delicious and also heavy. You only need a paratha or two to fill you up. You don’t need any side dish to finish this only need some spicy Indian condiment/ pickle. If you are fan of blue cheese, try delicious recipes, you will fell in love with it like me.

Watermelon Cucumber salad with Blue Cheese and Blue cheese Paratha for Blue Tuesday

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 1 whole meal for 3 people

Watermelon Cucumber salad with Blue Cheese and Blue cheese Paratha for Blue Tuesday

Delicious fruity watermelon cucumber salad with blue cheese and blue cheese paratha, whole meal for any time.

Ingredients

Watermelon cucumber salad with blue cheese

2 cups diced water melon
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
1 seeded and sliced cucumber
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese(Castello Noble Blue)

For dressing

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Blue cheese paratha

For the dough

2 cup whole wheat flour + ¼ cup extra for rolling
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup to 1 cup Hot water
2 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil
3 tablespoon of homemade ghee for brushing the paratha (Recipe for homemade ghee)

For stuffing

5.3 oz/150g blue cheese( Castello Noble Blue)
6 spring onions chopped finely both green and white parts
1 carrot finely grated
1 green chili
½ teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder and
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon cilantro/ coriander leaves

Instructions

Watermelon Cucumber Salad with Blue cheese

In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients for the dressing except olive oil and then incorporate olive oil with continue whisking and set aside.

In a big bowl add water melon, cucumber and onion

and toss the dressing and mix well so that it coated well. Top with crumbled blue cheese.

Blue cheese paratha

In a bowl of kitchen aid stand mixer attached with paddle attachment, add whole wheat flour, salt 2 tablespoon olive oil and water and combine well to form dough.
Change paddle attachment and with dough hook knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until they become smooth.

Set aside in lightly greased bowl rolling the dough so that dough get coat with 1 teaspoon oil, this will prevent dough from drying. Keep aside for 15-20 minutes. Make 10 equal sized balls and set aside.

For filling

Mix all the ingredients for filling in a bowl and divide it into 5 equal sized balls

Assembly and cooking the paratha

First with whole wheat dough balls make ½ inch thick flat bread

and then place blue cheese filling on the top of one disc

and cover with other flat bread and

using a mold cut it into 6 inch circle. Then seal the sides well so that filling won’t ooze out. .
Heat skillet and transfer the spread dough into skillet carefully. Cook the one side until you see bubbles on the top, brush with ghee

Flip the other side and cook for another minute. When paratha is done, you will see brown spots all over. Brush them with ghee on both sides once again.

Continue to make the paratha until you finish the entire dough. You will able to make 5 paratha from this recipe.
Serve them with spicy pickle or curry or your choice.

Notes

Pin it for later

Best Brownies Ever

Jul 28, 2015 · 15 Comments

Delicious chocolate brownies made with double chocolate, cocoa powder, semi sweet sweet chocolate chips, also one pot to make it.

Brownies and chocolate chips cookies are my kid’s top favorite, they want to have them every day if possible. So I make it often, sometimes from the scratch or some time from the boxed ones. Yesterday my son asked for brownies, I don’t have any boxed ones left, and thus tried to make from scratch. On going through the recipes, I found two of them. First one got more than 6000 reviews, where this one got around 1300 reviews.
While checking the video my 6 year old was sitting beside me, she didn’t like the one which higher reviews as it has chocolate frosting on the top. She told me Mama only cupcakes have icing, No brownies has none. So decide to try the second recipe. While reading the review I learned that it is little sweeter, so ended up reducing the amount of sugar and made it. Trust me they are best one it got so far, finished all in a day.
Little history of brownies, the brownie is one of America’s favorite baked treats. Evidence for the origin points to Fanny Farmer, who in 1905, adapted her chocolate cookie recipe to a bar cookie baked in a rectangular pan. (The brownie is classified as a bar cookie rather than a cake. That’s because brownies are finger food, like cookies, and cake is eaten with a fork). There are different types of brownies and some are “cakey” and some are Fudgy types.
The favorite myth, cited in Betty Crocker's Baking Classics and John Mariani’s The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, tells of a housewife in Bangor, Maine, who was making a chocolate cake but forgot to add baking powder. When her cake didn’t rise properly, instead of tossing it out, she cut and served the flat pieces. Alas, that theory relies on a cookbook published in Bangor in 1912, six years after the first chocolate brownie recipe was published by one of America’s most famous cookbook authors, Fannie Merritt Farmer in 1906 (and the Bangor version was almost identical to the 1906 recipe).

These brownies are really chocolaty and made with chocolate chips. Earlier I have tried Mocha brownies and brownie cookies. Those are delicious too, kids like this one and my son even asked me to bake another set of brownies for him. So go ahead make this delicious brownies, you need only chocolate chips, eggs, and butter and flour.

Here comes easy peasy brownies.

Print Recipe

No ratings yet

Best Brownies Ever

Delicious chocolatey brownies hard to stop with one slice.

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Brownies, Chocolate recipes

Servings:

Calories: 153kcal

Ingredients

⅓ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch square pan.
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and water.
Cook over medium heat until boiling.
Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth.
Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the chocolate mixture.
Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies set up. Do not over bake! Cool in pan and cut into squares.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Pistachio Milk with Clove and Rosewater

Jul 25, 2015 · 6 Comments

Delicious homemade Pistachio Milk made with spices like cardamom and cloves infused with rosewater. Excellent drink with touch of maple syrup

Have you guys planned anything for the weekend, we haven’t decided on anything yet. Going out in sun will be harder as temperature going to be 100 F/37.8C. I get bad headache when I am outside in the sun. Only good thing about this hot sun is getting lot of stuff sundried. So we may stay indoors or do shopping in mall. When coming to cooling off, I made this delicious Pistachio milk. So delicious that it is going to in the menu of my kitchen for long time.
This Pistachio milk with clove and rosewater is from the book Street Vegan: Recipes and Dispatches From The Cinnamon Snail Food Truck by Adam Sobel.

I cook vegan recipes every other time, so when I got a chance to review the book I got excited. Author runs food truck called Cinnamon Snail in New York. They ranked #1 place to eat in New York and #4 in the entire US on Yelp for 2014 and have a plethora of other awards. Adam Sobel is a culinary genius, and I do not say this lightly.

In this the author starts off with 6 pages of introduction, then there is list of vegan pantry items includes non-meat proteins, alternative milk and cheeses and flours etc. about another 6 pages. Then comes b breakfast recipes which includes, blue corn pancakes, fresh fig pancakes. I would love to try Bourbon hazelnut pancakes and Almond milk French toast from the list. Second chapter is beverages, which has 19 recipes; I tried the Pistachio Milk recipe. And I do look forward to trying rest of the recipes especially the Hot Ragi recipe.
Third chapter is about appetizers, New-England style chickpea”crab “ cakes sounds interesting, along with Pan-Fried Kimchi Dumplings, Rosemary White bean Croquettes are few. Fourth chapter is about soups, there are 12 recipes including French lentil soup with capers and fried pine nuts, Thai coconut curry soup, Ginger Laphing , creamy roasted almond cauliflower soup , red wine minestrone with Swiss chard and pearl onions are few.
In the fifth chapter about sandwiches, I found Oyster Mushroom Bao buns, Gochujang Burgar Deluxe are very interesting. Sixth chapter is about cinnamains, author says he tried to make gourmet style food during beginning of his food truck, however it turned out to be not profitable for him. So he advice that these recipes (such as Raw pizza, Galangal pea pancakes with basial seitan and fried kaffir lime) can be made at home, as it takes great lot efforts and is not ideal for a food truck

Seventh chapter about veggies and sides, like Lemon garlic swiss chard, Maple roasted Kabocha, Horseradish mash potatoes etc. Dessert recipes are on the Eighth Chapter. Macadamia-white chocolate twinkies, Live pumpkinish pie, Jalapeno raw brownies, Rum pumpkin chiffon pie are few of them.

Ninth chapter is about Donuts, Chocoalte cake Donuts, Donut Shop style fritters, Vanilla-bourbon crème brulee donuts are few. Last chapter is the Saucy stuff include how to make syrup, butter, mayonnaise, salsa verde, tapenade, salsa, glaze etc.

My view on this book it has lot of recipes which you can make at home with ingredients in the pantry, however for making almost 50% of the recipes you need special ingredients, which you need to run to whole foods or Asian markets. Then for some recipes you need to work lot of steps end results will be good but working lot of steps for the recipe is not always practical.
If you are strict vegan/ occasional vegan or not a vegan but want to try delicious food at home, then this is the book for you. Buy it you will love it,

I have tried Pistachio milk with clove and rose water from this book. For that you need fresh pistachio, I bought the one with shells, then shelled at home. Soak and add extra good flavor boosting ingredients and sweetener and then enjoy.

Soak the shelled pistachio

after soaking and cleaned

Add maple syrup, cardamom, rosewater and water

After blending

After straining

It is really easy if you buy pre-shelled ones. When told hubby about pistachio milk, he thought the one we get in India, milk with pistachio. I told him this one is without milk. While I taking my first sip I was like this Yes it is delicious, enough sweet and aromatic flavor from rosewater and cardamom. Give it try you will like it.

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Pistachio Milk with Clove and Rosewater

Delicious Pistachio milk with cloves, rosewater and cardamom.

Prep Time30

Cook Time5

Total Time1 5

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pistachio Milk

Servings: serving

Calories: 165kcal

Ingredients

⅓ cup shelled unroasted pistachios soaked in water for 30 minutes
1 ½ tablespoons pure maple syrup
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
¾ teaspoon rosewater
¼ teaspoon sea salt
3 cardamom seeds
2 cup cold water

Instructions

Drain and rinse the soaked pistachios.
You need to also remove a thin gray colored skin attached to the pistachios, if it present.
Add nuts, maple syrup, cloves, rosewater, salt, cardamom and 2 cups cold water into the high speed blender high for 90 seconds, until the milk is smooth and frothy.
Strain the milk through a fine mesh strainer, and chill for 30 minutes.
Stir or shake before serving
You can store in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from Street Vegan

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Opera cake

Jul 21, 2015 · 19 Comments

Delicious Opera cake with almond sponge joconde, coffee syrup, coffee buttercream, Chocolate ganache, and Chocolate glaze.

We went to beach this Saturday, my kids and hubby played in the water, and for a while I sat on the beach and enjoyed the breeze. Later as the sun was setting I loved wading through the waters; yes that is my hobby while in beach. On the way back we had some Mac Donald’s treat; it was late night when we reached home. So I didn’t make anything on Saturday. Opera cake was on the do to list as it was challenge for this month. I got a chance to make them only yesterday. Making an opera cake is a laborious process. You need to follow of lot of steps to get the final product. Still I made opera cake as I wanted to learn new techniques.
I got to learn about almond Sponge Joconde and French coffee butter cream. This month’s Baking Partner’s challenge was suggested by Savita of Savitha’s kitchen. It is a very rich cake, and may be reason why it is served in bite size version. Even bite size version is rich. If you are calorie counting guy then this cake is not recommend for you.

This Opera cake was created by French Pastry Chef Cyriaque Gavillon who worked at the legendary Dalloyau shop in Paris. It was the perfect match. Cyriaque, a genius with patisserie and an artist who created the most amazing cakes and sugar decorations, and Dalloyau joined hands. In 1955, when inventing the Opera cake he wanted to make something that in taking one bite, would give a taste of the whole cake. He worked on layers and tastes and came up with a wonderfully sophisticated cake. His wife told him it reminded her of the Paris Opera House, Palais Garnier. The name got stuck and he named it Opera cake.
Opera cake is rectangular cake made of three layers of Joconde almond flavored sponge soaked in coffee syrup and topped with coffee butter cream and chocolate ganache. The top is covered with a deep dark chocolate icing. You can make chocolate ganache with bitter chocolate if you want. I used chocolate glaze with bitter sweet chocolate. Chocolate ganache with semi sweet chocolate. also I cut them into 4 pieces instead of traditional 3 layers.Traditionally the cake is decorated with its name written in glaze across the top and finished with piece of shimmering gold leaf.
As I mentioned earlier, it is rich cake, and since I am the only person going to eat this cake, I was afraid of using 12 eggs in a recipe so used another one which uses only 4 however, there is butter and sugar and is rich. As the creator of cake tied this cake in bite sized form, that way it is good for you. Actually I combined both recipes, thus used techniques from both. Even though it is time taking cake it is delicious and rich. Give it try. I learned making French butter cream with hot sugar syrup. When I first mixed it looked like a soup, and thought what a mess I created. I did later find out that beating some more time makes everything perfect. Here is the recipe for gorgeous opera cake for you.

Please make sure to look at the other baking partner’s creations too, if you want to join, please shoot an e-mail, you can bake with us next month.

Opera cake

Rating: 51

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 6-8 serving

Opera cake

Delicious opera cake made with almond joconde sponge, coffee buttercream, coffee syrup, chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze.

Ingredients

For almond sponge cake

3 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising), sifted after measuring, plus additional for dusting pan
2 whole large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
1 cup almond flour (3 ½ oz) or ⅔ cup blanched whole almonds (I used this recipe
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted after measuring
2 large egg whites at room temperature for 30 minutes
⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, foam discarded, and butter cooled

For coffee syrup

1 ¼ teaspoon instant-espresso powder
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon water
¼ cup granulated sugar

For coffee buttercream

2 teaspoons instant-espresso powder
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon water
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes and softened

For Chocolate Ganache

2 ounce / ½ cup grated semi sweet chocolate
2 ounce /1/4 cup heavy cream

For chocolate glaze

2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3oz /3/4 cup grated fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened; preferably 70 to 71% cacao), coarsely chopped

Instructions

Make sponge cake:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F. Butter baking pan, 13x9 nch then line bottom with a sheet of parchment or wax paper,s, and generously butter paper.

Beat egg whites in a bowl with cleaned beaters

at medium speed until foamy.

Add cream of tartar and salt and beat until whites just hold soft peaks. Add granulated sugar,

. Add granulated sugar, then increase speed to high and beat until whites just hold stiff peaks.

If you hold the pan upside it won't fall.

Transfer the beaten egg white in clean bowl

Wash and clean the kitchen aid bowl and beat whole eggs in a large bowl high speed until eggs have tripled in volume and form a ribbon when beaters are lifted, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add almond flour and confectioners’ sugar and mix until just combined. To this add melted butter and mix in.

Resift cake flour over batter and gently fold in.
Fold one third of whites into almond mixture to lighten,

and then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

then pour batter evenly into baking pan, spreading gently and evenly with offset spatula and being careful not to deflate (batter will be about ¼ inch thick).

Pour the batter into one 13- by 9-inch shallow pan

Bake for about 9-10 minutes or until it is golden brown like this

Leave the baked sponge for 1 minute and free the sides gently with knife and tilt and transfer the sponge into another parchment paper.

Gently peel of the parchment paper.
and cut the baked cake into 4 pieces First, cut the cake in half crosswise, cutting through the paper used to line the pan. Then cut off a 3 ¼-inch-wide strip from the bottom of each half so that you have a total of 2 (roughly 7-inch) squares and 2 (roughly 3- by 7-inch) rectangles. Put the two rectangles together to make the square middle cake layer,
Trim outside edges slightly, then carefully transfer one piece to new parchment paper.

Make coffee syrup:

Stir together espresso powder and 1 tablespoon water until powder is dissolved. Bring sugar and remaining ¾ cup water to a boil in a 1- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer syrup, without stirring, 5 minutes.then add coffee mixture.
your coffee syrup is ready.

Make coffee buttercream:

Stir together espresso powder and 1 tablespoon water until powder is dissolved.

Bring sugar and remaining ¼ cup water to a boil in a very small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring, washing down any sugar crystals on side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water, until syrup registers 238°F on thermometer (soft-ball stage;).

While syrup boils, beat yolks in a large bowl with cleaned beaters at medium speed 1 minute.

Add hot syrup to yolks in a slow stream (try to avoid beaters and side of bowl), beating,

then add coffee mixture and beat until completely cool, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in butter, 1 piece at a time, and beat until thickened and smooth. It will be soupy mixture at first, Upon beating it will becomes thicken to form buttercream structure.

Make glaze:

Melt butter and all but 2 tablespoons chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth.

Remove top of double boiler and stir in remaining 2 tablespoons chocolate until smooth, then cool glaze until room temperature but still liquid.

Assemble cake:

Chocolate Ganche

Heat chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl.

until chocolate melt completely.

Assembly of cake

Put 1 cake piece on a plate,and then spread a layer of chocolate glaze

cover with parchment and refrigerate until it set

Then peel the parchment and turn chocolate side down, this make it easy handling of cake while cutting.

To the top, then brush with coffee syrup

Spread half of buttercream evenly over top with cleaned offset spatula, spreading to edges.

Arrange both cake strips side by side on top of first layer (any seam will be hidden by next layer),
then brush with half of remaining coffee syrup.

Spread chocolate ganche evenly over top, spreading just to edges.

Top with remaining cake square and brush with remaining coffee syrup. Spread remaining buttercream evenly over top, spreading just to edges. Chill cake until buttercream is firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat this process until you finish entire piece.

Reheat remaining glaze over barely simmering water just until shiny and spreadable (but not warm to the touch), about 1 minute. Pour all but 1 tablespoon glaze over top layer of cake and spread evenly just to edges.

If you want decorating the top of cake scrape remaining tablespoon glaze into seal able plastic bag and twist bag so glaze is in 1 corner. Snip a tiny hole in corner and decorate cake (leave a ½-inch border around edges).
. Chill cake until glaze is set, about 30 minutes, then trim edges slightly with a sharp serrated knife.

Notes: To take the temperature of a shallow amount of syrup, put bulb in saucepan and turn thermometer face down, resting other end against rim of saucepan. Check temperature frequently. Opéra cake can be made 2 days ahead. Cover sides with strips of plastic wrap and top of cake loosely with plastic wrap (once glaze is set) and chill cake. Remove plastic wrap from top immediately

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here and here

Pin it for later

Loading InLinkz ...

Kaikari biryani/Vegetable biryani

Jul 18, 2015 · 21 Comments

I rarely make one pot meal, because I like elaborate meals always, rice, minimum two dry curries, one gravy, and pickle. Some time I also have fried chips to go with it. However sometimes when my laziness takes over me I will go for one pot meal. And when I make I am in good mood I love to make biryani. Yes it requires lot of preparation; I made this vegetable biriyani in my newly acquired Le Creuset dutch oven. Yes Kaikari biryani in dutch oven.

This kaikari biryani is a specialty of chettinad cuisine, I saw it in my friend Mullai’s blog Spiceindiaonline, and her recipes are always perfect. When it comes to biriyani India is known for its various type of biryani, every state has its own specialty biryani. The northern part of my home state Kerala also has a famous biriyani, and is my next list of dishes to make. The spices mix (masala) and the rice used for biryani varies from state to state. In northern Kerala, short grain rice called, Jeerakasala/Kaima rice is used. In Bangladesh, Kalijeera rice (small Bangladeshi biryani rice) which is short grain, thin not plum is used. It doesn’t require any pre-soaking like basmati also you don’t need to cook in boiling water. In north India basmati rice is used for their biryani recipes.
For this recipe you can use your favorite vegetables; I used whatever available in my hand. Also I used freshly powdered masala as Mullai suggested in the recipe. I reduced the amount of heat so that it will suit my kids too. I also like this recipe because it uses coconut milk, which imparts a delicious flavor. I used my dutch oven and slow cooked it instead of using pressure cooker.

When I finished biryani for the dinner I told hubby there is some leftover we can have for lunch next day, he agreed. Since it is not his favorite diabetic friendly red rice he took only small portion of it. But after lunch he called me and told me that it was so delicious and regret not bring some more to office for lunch. Yes by the next day flavor infused really well and is delicious. I am going to make this more often.
One more thing makes sure to enter giveway for Le crecust pan in which I made this delicious biryani, you could be the winner.
Give it try if you like spicy rice dishes like biryani, pulav etc. Here comes the recipe.

Kaikari biryani

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Kaikari biryani

Delicious spicy one pot meal, vegetable kaikari biriyani goes well simple yogurt.

Ingredients

Masala powder
2 inch stick Cinnamon
4 Cloves
5 Cardamom
2 Star anise
4 petals Mace flower
⅛ teaspoon grated Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
½ teaspoon Fennel Seeds
½ teaspoon black pepper
Vegetables and herbs for the biriyani
1 medium red onion chopped finely
2 Tomato chopped finely
½ tablespoon Ginger Garlic paste (or 5 garlic cloves + 2? ginger )
1 Green Chili
¼ cup Mint leaves finely minced
¼ cup Coriander leaves finely minced
½ cup – finely minced
1 1/ 2 cups Mixed vegetables(carrot, cabbage, tindora, red bell pepper
2 Bay leaf
¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
½ teaspoon Red chili powder
2 teaspoon Coriander powder
1 ½ teaspoon Salt or to taste
3 tablespoon olive Oil
Ghee 2 tablespoon (for sautéing and drizzling)
2 tablespoon Coriander leaves for garnishing
1 ½ cup Jeerakasala rice/Seeraga Samba / Basmati Rice / Sirumani arisi
1 ½ cup Coconut milk 2 cups
1 ¼ cup Water

Instructions

Dry roast all the whole garam masala in a pan, let cool completely and then grind to a coarse and set aside.

Heat oil and ghee in a dutch oven add the bay leaf, star anise,

green chili, onions, ginger, garlic and fry for few minutes. Then followed by chopped mint and coriander leaves. Fry for about 6 minutes over medium flame or until the onion turns translucent texture.

Now add the chopped tomato and fry until it gets mushy.

Now add the vegetable of your choice along with turmeric powder, ground garam masala powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt.

Fry for about 5 minutes to get the masala blend well.
Then add rice and add coconut milk and water. Adjust the salt at this stage.

Cover with lid and cook 35 minutes in slow flame. Once it is done you will see no water in the bottom of pan. . Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Drizzle melted ghee over the cooked biryani. Do not stir, let cool a lit bit then gently fluff with fork and transfer to a bowl. Serve hot with onion raita.

Notes

This recipe is adapted fromhere

Chocolate chip cookies

Jul 14, 2015 · 11 Comments

My day started with taking two little ones to swimming class. Usually my son cries before entering the pool. Today he enjoyed and had fun. Then while coming back we visited our library and borrowed some bread books for mom and story books for little ones. Son took his favorite cow book where as daughter picked her favorite 9 books. Yes it is heavy load and we came home, while in car my son started sleeping. On coming home my daughter asked me about chocolate chip cookies I made yesterday on her request.
This is the best chocolate chips cookies I have made. She loves it, she like everything chocolate, my son too loves dark chocolate. I used semi sweet chocolate chip cookies for these cookies; you can even add chocolate chunks that too tasty. Now they are having summer vacation so they want all the goodies, cookies, chocolate candies and cupcakes are they demand. When we go out they need donuts. I didn’t make at home because only kiddos will eat it, I and hubby are afraid of sweets. I don’t need to worry about finishing the chocolate chips cookies, because it is the most loved item by kiddos.

While searching the internet, I found some interesting facts of about chocolate chip cookies. First of all chocolate chip cookies was created by accident in 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, added broken chocolate bar pieces into her cookie batter thinking that they would melt. Instead, the classic dessert was born. When it was created chocolate chip cookies were called as “Butterdrop do cookies” later it was re-named into chocolate crunch cookies when it was published in cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes," First chocolate chip cookies were small and only bite sized and size of quarter and were also crispy.
Nestle paid the creator of the cookie for her recipe with a lifetime supply of chocolate. After acquiring Wakefield's recipe, the company invented the now ubiquitous teardrop-shaped chocolate chip in 1939.The world's biggest chocolate chip cookie weighed 40,000 pounds and had a diameter of 101 feet was created in 2003 by The Immaculate Baking Company in Flat Rock, North Carolina. It is also America’s favorite cookies.

This is my on the go chocolate chip cookie recipe, I make this cookies more often. I have already posted a spelt flour chocolate chip cookies. This time I post with all purpose flour. It is delicious give it a try. I used 1 cup chocolate chips you can add more if you want, anything more will be merrier. Give it try, you will love it.

Chocolate chip cookies

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 20-25

Chocolate chip cookies

My on the go Chocolate chip cookies, my kids favorite. Delicious

Ingredients

1 ½ cup All purpose flour/ Maida
½ cup unsalted butter (soften at room temperature)
½ cup+ 1 tablespoon Brown sugar
¼ cup Granulated sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
⅓ teaspoon Sea salt
½ teaspoon Baking soda
¾ teaspoon Baking powder
1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 360 F/180C.
In a medium bowl All purpose flour baking soda, baking powder, sea salt mix in and set aside.
In a bowl of kitchen-aid stand mixer cream butter, along with both sugars until it is nice and fluffy approximately about 3 minutes.

Add egg and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.

Then gradually mix in the dry ingredients into the sugar-butter-egg mixture

Finally fold in chocolate chips

The cookie batter should be somewhat thick.

Drop about 1 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet.

Slightly flatten the dough with your hand. Leave at least 2 inch between each cookie.
Bake for 9-10 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie rack for at least 3 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Notes

Chakka Appam/ Steamed Jackfruit Rice Cake

Jul 11, 2015 · 17 Comments

Chakka appam /Steamed jackfruit rice cake wrapped in Banana leaves, is a delicious south Indian traditional steamed rice cake made with ripe jack fruit and jaggery( raw sugar) and rice. Fat free dessert

If you looking for some simple fat free dessert then try this Chakkappam made with ripe jackfruit puree, jaggery, rice flour and best part of this rice cake is it is steamed.

Some fruits tempt me to buy them a lot; they are plantain, mango and jackfruit. Yes these fruits remind me of my childhood days. So always I try to grab them when it is possible. Last week I went to Hong Kong Market for get some ingredients for my Thai recipe. Yes I am little crazy about Thai dishes. When I saw huge jackfruit, I immediately put it into the shopping cart.

I didn’t even blink an eye towards my hubby as he may have any other opinion. After coming home, I realized it was ripe, so we need to eat it as fast as possible, and as I was not possible to finish it in a couple of days, made this chakka appam/ Steamed Jackfruit rice cake wrapped in banana leaves.

I have already made jackfruit preserve, sweet pudding with jackfruit, in fact two versions or it, one with preserve and other with fresh fruit. Also made Ela ada/ rice wrappers with jackfruit preserve as filling with ripe jackfruit. Yes ripe jackfruit is delicious especially this variety called varikka and then there is another variety Koozha.

Even in varikka there are following different types 1. Varikka Chakka 2. Koozha Chakka 3. Chembarathi Chakka 4. Sada Varikkka Chakka 5. Then Varikka . I think I bought varikka from Hong Kong Market. In my home, usually my grandma checks the ripeness of jackfruit. I don’t remember how she did it?

Last time when we visited Hong Kong Market, we asked a Vietnamese couple for help to select the jackfruit, and they told us to looks for equal sized prickly eyes on jackfruit, if they are equal size means they are ripe. Now I learned how to select them.

I have tried most of the traditional recipes using ripe jackfruit, even though a few like Chakka appam remains in the list. Chakka appam is a traditional tea time snack made with ripe jackfruit, jaggery, coconut and homemade rice flour.

I am very particular about the traditional recipes, so soaked rice and pounded it into homemade rice flour. You can feel free to use store bought rice flour. First grind the ripe jack fruit and then thicken the puree with jaggery. To this add rice flour and coconut and steam it in a banana leaves.

I am happy to use banana leaves from my garden. Cooking with banana leaves imparts great aromatic flavor which nothing can replace it. I did it just like my grandma used to make. It is delicious, give it a try if you are little adventurous. For me some this recipe rekindles their childhood memories. Here comes the recipe.

First make jackfruit puree

Jackfruit puree

Melt the jaggery with water

Strain the jaggery for impurities

Mix in both jaggery and jackfruit puree

Cook both jackfruit puree and jaggery into a thick paste

Rice flour

Mix in rice flour into jackfruit-jaggery mixture

Banana leaves

Rice-Jackfruit-jaggery mixture

Place them into banana leaves like this

Fold the banana leaves and tie them from all sides

Steam the jackfruit-rice mixture in banana leaves

After 15 minutes of cooking

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Chakka appam/ Steamed Jackfruit Rice Cake

Delicious steamed jack fruit rice cake wrapped in banana leaves .Goes well with coffee or tea.

Total Time1 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Chakkappam, Jackfruit recipes

Servings:

Calories: 421kcal

Equipment

Steamer

Ingredients

20 Jack fruit you will get 1 ¼ cup jack fruit puree
1 cup Jaggery Raw Indian sugar
2 cup roasted rice flour
½ cup water
½ cup fresh grated coconut
5 cardamom pods seeded
Ghee for brushing banana leaves

Instructions

Soak 1 ¼ cup raw rice for 5 hours and then pound it into fine rice powder.
Sieve to get fine. Then roast ground rice powder in medium flame until entire moisture is removed.
You will be able draw a line clearly with rice powder if it is dried well. If you want you can pulse them once more to get uniform texture. I skipped that part.
In blender puree the jack fruit and set aside.
In a small bowl add jaggery and ¼ cup water until it melted completely.
Then strain for impurities.
Bring back to heat and add the jackfruit puree and cook until it thickened about 35-40 minutes.
To this a roasted rice powder and coconut and cardamom powder.
Mix everything into dough.
Cut banana leaf into small squares, and slightly wilt them in open flame, that way it will be easy pliable.
Then brush the banana leaves with ghee
and place small round dough in the center
and spread it into in ½ inch circle.
Fold it into two then fold once again to form a wrap.
Place it in a steamer and cook for 15-20minutes
or until banana leafs color changes.
Once it is cool enough to touch remove the wrapper and enjoy with hot tea.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

Jul 7, 2015 · 25 Comments

Delicious sweet potato dinner rolls made with sweet potato pureee, flour and yeast. These are really versatile as sandwich rolls also.

Why sweet potato is used in bread or muffins?

Sweet potatoes work wonderfully in baked recipes, offering a natural sweetness and a moist texture.

Sweet Potato Bread or Muffins: adds moisture and flavor. Check sweet potato muffins and bread recipes in this website.

Health benefits of sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are not only delicious but also incredibly nutritious! Here are some health benefits of sweet potatoes:

Rich in Nutrients:

Vitamins: They are high in vitamins A, C, and B6, which are essential for eye health, immune function, and overall well-being.
Minerals: Sweet potatoes contain minerals like potassium, manganese, and magnesium, important for heart health, muscle function, and metabolism.

High in Fiber:

Dietary Fiber: They are a good source of dietary fiber, both soluble and insoluble, aiding digestion, promoting gut health, and contributing to a feeling of fullness.

Antioxidants:

Beta-Carotene: The orange color of sweet potatoes comes from beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant that converts to vitamin A in the body. It's crucial for vision, skin health, and immune function.
Anthocyanins: Purple varieties contain anthocyanins, potent antioxidants known for their anti-inflammatory properties.

Blood Sugar Regulation:

Low Glycemic Index: Despite their natural sweetness, sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic index compared to regular potatoes, which means they are less likely to cause a rapid spike in blood sugar levels.

Heart Health:

Potassium: Sweet potatoes contain potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Including sweet potatoes in your diet can provide an array of health benefits due to their nutrient density and diverse nutritional profile. They're a delicious and versatile addition to any meal!

How to make this Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls ?

You need following ingredients to make this sweet potato dinner rolls

Whole wheat flour
All purpose flour
Instant yeast
Boiled sweet potato
Butter
Egg
Milk power
Water
Salt

For making this dinner rolls you need sweet potato puree. I found that for any sweet potato bread, you need to add only 7 ounce/200g of sweet potato puree is needed for about 12 ounce /340g of flour. I added little more flour.

Instructions fo make sweet potaot dinner rolls

On the day of baking add mashed sweet potato, I didn’t make it puree, you can if you want uniform texture to flours, egg, and milk powder and form an sticky but smooth dough with water.

Dry ingredients with egg and Soft and supple dough

sweet potato puree

Set aside for doubling once it is doubled in volume, divide the dough into 10 equal sized balls and set aside for second proofing.

When it is doubled again, do an eggwash and sprinkle seeds of your choice I used sesame seed, also used 1 tablespoon of sugar, if you want you can increase your favorite sweetener.

These dinner rolls are really soft and fluffy, make a sandwich or just slather some butter and toast and enjoy, option are endless. Here comes the recipe.

Storage

These dinner rolls will store well at room temperature for 4 days . For long term storage freeze them.

Variations

If you want a soft-topped roll, brush the rolls with melted butter right after you remove them from the oven.

Print Recipe

5 from 7 votes

Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

Delicious soft sweet potato dinner rolls made with whole wheat flour.

Prep Time2

Cook Time19

Total Time2 19

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dinner rolls, Homemade dinner rolls, Sweet potato dinner rolls

Servings:

Calories: 39kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Equipment

Ingredients

2 cup 329g Whole Wheat flour
1 cup 130g All purpose flour/ Maida
2 teaspoon /6g Instant yeast
1 tablespoon 15g brown sugar use any sweetener of your choice
¼ cup 30g milk powder
1 large egg
1 cup 200g Sweet potato Boiled mashed
2 tablespoon 28g soft butter
¾ cup Water
1 ¼ teaspoon 7g salt

for eggwash

1 egg + 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon white sesame seeds

Instructions

Place all of the ingredients into the bowl of your mixer . Mix until you've form a soft, but not sticky dough.
Knead the dough for 6 minutes,
then place it in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour or hour and half ; it will almost double in size and look puffy

To shape and finish the rolls:

After the first rise, deflate the dough and divide it into 10 pieces. You can roll each piece(92g) into a ball, then flatten it to make it ¾-inch thick (this give it a large enough diameter to fit your sandwich on after baking).
Place the rolls either in a hamburger bun pan or on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for 25 to 30 minutes, until almost doubled. Brush the tops of the rolls with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using.
Bake in a preheated 375°F/190.5C oven for 19 minutes, until the tops are a rich golden brown color, and the centers read above 190°F when measured with an instant-read thermometer. Remove the rolls from the oven and cool on a rack for 5 minutes, before removing from the pan and returning to the rack to cool completely.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Patriotic Puff pastries

Jul 4, 2015 · 4 Comments

Simple and delicious easy patriotic puff pastries made with whipped cream, raspberries, blueberries f for July 4th celberation.

Happy July 4th to everyone, Hope you are celebrating with great fun and enthusiasm. This year we hope to be to see some of the fireworks display. I say hopefully because it is difficult to find parking and going out with two little hyperactive kiddos is not easy. I had started a tradition of making red white and blue dishes for few years. So decide to make it this time too. However I was busy, but did end up making patriotic puff pastries which is easy to put together less than an hour.

I didn’t make any puff pastry this time; usually I love to make from scratch. So used store bought puff pastry from pepper ridge farm. I made only few. These Patriotic puff pastries are easy to make. With one sheet of puff pastry you will able to make six 4 inch pastries. These patriotic puff pastries are cute and can be used as desserts. If you are planning a July 4th party, make ahead cream cheese frosting and on the day just bake the puff pastries. Arrange it and enjoy.

It is slightly sweetened cream cheese and frosting goes perfectly with slightly tart raspberries and sweet blue berries. I wanted to make stars and stripes little dessert. Finally did after several days of head pinching ideas and searches. I know my kiddos are not so much fan to double layer of puff pastries sweets, so made it single layer, that turned out be great. Once I cut the puff pastries for the flag, with rest I cut out some stars too.
Here come my easy breezy patriotic puff pastries.

Patriotic Puff pastries

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 50 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Yield: 6

Patriotic Puff pastries

Delicious patriotic puff pastries can be great dessert for July 4th party.

Ingredients

1 sheet of store bought puff pastry orhomemade
1 cup Raspberries ( use fresh)
1 cup blueberries ( use fresh)

For Filling

4 oz Cream cheese
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract

Instructions

In a Kitchen-aid bowl, add all the contents for filling and beat well so that it incorporated well and set aside in refrigerator until you ready to use.
Preheat oven to 400F
Thaw the puff pastry sheet according to manufactures instructions
Once the puff pastry sheet is thawed, in slightly floured surface, spread the puff pastry sheet. cut it into six 4 inch pieces and prick them with fork so that it won't puff up too much in while baking.
Before baking do an eggwash and bake for 10 minutes or until it become golden brown in color.
Remove from the baking sheet immediately and cool for about 15- 30 minutes.
Once it cooled spread a tablespoon and little more of filling on each puff pastries. Arrange blueberries on the left hand corner for stars. For stripes cut each raspberry into two and arrange it.
If you want you can dust with powdered sugar at end.

Notes

Other red white and blue cupcakes

Blueberry Ice Cream

Jul 1, 2015 · 16 Comments

Delicious blueberry ice cream. egg free. Easy to make with few ingredients in your pantry.You can make it special with addition of chocolate chips

This week is going to go fast, as July 4th weekend is coming; hubby has an off on Friday, so it will be a three day weekend. Kids get to enjoys more as papa is home and that means more outing. If mama is there only outing they get is trip to doctor, Wal-Mart or Sam’s club. Nowadays as they are home so they need some goodies to munch on more often and it is an ice cream, popsicles etc. They love blueberries, so I made this blueberry ice cream.

Summer is bounty time for fruits; especially are blueberries, Mango, Jackfruit, raspberries and strawberries are abundantly available in the market. I like to make ice cream with each and every one of the fruits. But one thing we need to make sure while making ice cream with fruits is taking care of iciness or acid content, but often pureed fruits work well even if simply stirred into the ice cream base when it’s cooled. Iciness can be prevented by giving time to macerate the berries and later puree them. Similarly acid content of lemon, blueberries can be preventing by adding the puree to milk or cream only after cooling.

Yes both I and kids love blueberries, I love to add them in my bakes and smoothies, however my hubby is not a big fan. My little ones want blueberries only in ice cream. I make ice cream at home so that I can control the ingredients that go into it. I have made this blueberry ice cream a few times, it is delicious; only need some cream, milk, blueberries and sugar. Since I giving it to little ones, most of the times I make eggless ice cream. If you make fruit based ice creams you don’t need any egg.

Also I noted that price of eggs has gone up considerably. Usually when I shop at Wal-Mart, there will be few people near the eggs aisle. Last time when I shopped there I couldn’t find a single person.

This blueberry ice cream recipe is simple, you will love it, give it a try. Here comes the recipe.

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Blueberry Ice Cream

Delicious blueberry ice cream made with fresh blueberries You can add chocolate chips to make is little special

Total Time8 45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: ice cream

Servings: quart

Calories: 2890kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

1 ½ cup Heavy cream or whipping cream
2 ½ cup blueberries I used fresh blueberries, you can use frozen also
1 cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice juice from half of lemon
½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips (optional

Instructions

Mix blueberries, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.
Stir occasionally until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool 20 minutes. Puree in a blender.
Stir puree together with heavy cream, milk and lemon juice.
Chill in refrigerator overnight. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Mix in chocolate chips by adding into machine during last 5 minutes of freezing.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Pin it for later

Other berry based ice cream are

Strawberry cheesecake ice cream

Homemade strawberry ice cream

Brigadeiro/ Brazilian Fudge Balls

Jun 27, 2015 · 12 Comments

Brigaderio bite sized Brazilian chocolate delights, hard to resist

I never ever thought that celebrating my birthday will gives me so much happiness. My birthday was celebrated until my mom was there, but when she left there were no regular celebration. Dad and hubby would even occasionally forget and even I forgot at times and didn’t have any birthday celebration. However last two years hubby is making sure to remember the birthday by putting a reminder in his phone. He told my two little ones that tomorrow is mama’s birthday. My princess was so excited and started pestering me to make a chocolate cake all day long, finally in the evening I made one. Actually I want to make a Brigadeiro for long time, so decide to make one finally.
While I was working in kitchen my daughter and her brother went upstairs with papa, to find some presents for me. She wrapped her teddy bear for me also a small one by her brother. She wrote a happy birthday wishes in small card with her signature. Then she wanted candles, Hubby dug some from the closet. Finally she litterally stuck candles on the cake and ask me to blow. She and her little brother sang the happy birthday song in high pitch. When I cut the cake, they were after the chocolate cake and brigaderio. We enjoyed eating chocolate cake and brigadeiro at the same time.

Brazil is famous for its sweets, soccer and beef; it is also a place in my wish list of place to visit. I don’t know when I can do that, my wish list is growing and nothing has happened. Brigadeiro are Brazilian Fudge Balls. They are simple to make and are delicious. It is little sweet, gooey chocolate wonders covered with chocolate sprinkles.
The history of this treat starts with Eduardo Gomes, a Brazilian Air Force brigadier general who unsuccessfully ran for president way back in 1945. During his campaign, he had volunteers make these fudge balls to hand out. These fudge balls, later came to be known as brigadeiro, it is name of Brigadier in Portuguese. Eduardo Gomes's campaign slogan - "Vote no brigadeiro, que é bonito e é solteiro" (Vote for the brigadier, who's good-looking and single) - didn't grant him victory, in the end he lost his election to Eurico Gaspar Dutra, but sweets on his name continue put the glory even today.

An older version of the recipe uses eggs, however the newer version consists of condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate sprinkles, you can also try making with good quality chocolate. Brigadeiro is must for birthday party treat in Brazil, yes whether it is kids or adult they love this candy for their birthday.

Brigaderio are served not only as bite sized balls, but also in tiny cups with small spoon that is called brigadeiro de colher or spoon brigadeiro. This version is mainly served in home. I read that Brazilians use brigadeiro mixture to frost cakes, fill pies and spread over pizza dough. Mainly brigadeiro are made with chocolate however there lot of variations and some are made with nuts etc. There is also a similar treat called Beijinho de Coco (Coconut Little Kiss) which is next in my do list.

If you are chocolate fan like my little ones, especially dark one, then give it a try, it is really easy to make, with can of condensed milk, cocoa powder and butter. Of course chocolate sprinkles to roll, give it try here comes the recipe.

Brigadeiro/ Brazilian Fudge Balls

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 25 -30 numbers

Brigadeiro/ Brazilian Fudge Balls

Delicious gooey chocolate treat easy to make.

Ingredients

1 can /14 oz Sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoon butter + plus more
Chocolate sprinkles or rain bow color sprinkles

Instructions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cocoa, butter and condensed milk.

Cook with continue stirring, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Form into ½ tablespoon mixture to form small balls

and roll it in sprinkles of your favorite.

Eat at once or chill until serving.

Notes

Pin it for later

Amish potato rolls

Jun 24, 2015 · 61 Comments

Delicious buttery Amish potato rolls made mashed potato , soft and easy rolls goes well with anything. Easy to put together and you can bake in dutch oven.

How was your weekend? I celebrated father’s day by calling my dad in India. He is my hero, friend and everything. My hubby spent his father’s day with two little ones, taking them to nearby park for feeding ducks and to the playground. His morning started with kisses from little ones and happy father’s day wish. While he was outing with kids, I made this delicious Amish potato rolls in my new Le Creuset Dutch oven
If you are a cooking or baking enthusiast like me, new pots and pan or baking pans can make you happy. If you can get possession of a Le Creuset Dutch oven, then your joy is doubled, isn’t that true? Yes that was happened to me. I love Le Creuset Dutch oven because they make perfect sourdough bread. Whenever I want to make artisanal crusted bread I need Dutch oven. My grandma used to cook many festival recipes in traditional bronze vessel called “Uruli”, because it can withstand as well as maintain heat for a longtime. If you need a slow cooking for long time at a high temperature cooking it is possible with a Dutch oven. Yes when I made these traditional sundried cassva/yucca fitters I used Dutch oven to heat a liquid cassava starch to thicken.

First I made a traditional vegetable biriyani from Tamil Nadu, South Indian State, India. Since rice is staple in our cooking. I will post the detailed recipe on coming post. Next is my favorite part bread baking? I was planning to make Amish potato dinner rolls for long time. Decide to try it my newly owned Dutch oven.

These potato rolls are easy to make, you need only a cup of mashed potato. Yes Amish ladies tuck their mashed potatoes to bread rolls to give them a yummy softness - no matter how long they sit on the dinner table, or how often they're warmed over. I used instant potato flakes to make this bread. First make dough with flour, yeast, mashed potato, egg, milk, butter, sugar and salt. Then allow doing first fermentation. While your dough is rising, brush the sides and bottom part of Dutch oven to give a nice coat of butter. Then once dough is doubled divide and roll it into small balls and dip them into the melted butter and arrange beautifully. Then close and set aside for the next doubling; once it is finished bake the rolls with close lid for some time. Remove the lid and bake for some more to get perfect golden colored rolls. Once done, brush it with slightly more butter, yes more butter means merrier.

First mix flour, yeast sugar, mashed potato, egg,

Print Recipe

4.89 from 17 votes

Amish potato rolls and Le Creuset Dutch Oven giveaway

Delicious soft potato rolls goes great as breakfast, lunch or dinner rolls.

Prep Time2 15

Cook Time45

Total Time3

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #dinnerrolls, Amish Potato Rolls

Servings:

Calories: 244kcal

Ingredients

406.25 g/ 3 ½ cup all purpose flur
43 g/3/4 cup instant potato flakes/ 1 boiled mashed potato
47 g/ 3 ½ tablespoon of butter + plus extra for the pan and brushing
1 large egg
4 g/1 teaspoon salt
7 g/ 2 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
100 g/½ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup water

Instructions

If using instant potato flakes, add ¾ cup boiling water to make mashed potato.
In a kitchen aid bowl add all ingredients including mashed potato and mix in together to form a soft supple dough.
Grease the pan with butter and transfer dough and set aside
for double in volume,it takes about 1 ½ hours in my case. If your kitchen is warm it will be ready in an hour.
While the dough is doubling prepare the dutch oven by melting 2 tablespoon of butter in it once the butter is melted tilt the pan in circular motion so that pan will be coated with butter in all sides.
Once the dough is doubled in volume
divide the dough into 10 pieces of 85g. Shape each pieces into round ball and coat with butter and place it in Dutch oven.
Set aside for another 45 minutes or until the dough proofed.
End of the second proofing pre-heat the oven 350F/176 C.
Bake the bread with lid covered for 25 minutes and then remove the lid and bake for another 15-18 minutes or until it become golden brown in color.
Once it is comes out the oven immediately brush with butter.
You can immediately transfer the rolls to cooling rack and when you are ready to serve transfer the rolls once again into the dutch oven and bring it to table.
These rolls are at it prime one the day they baked, so enjoy it on that day itself.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Pin it for later

Chocolate Pot de crème

Jun 17, 2015 · 20 Comments

Delicious Chocolate Pot de crème an easy dessert for any time.

Pot de crème ("pot of cream") is a traditional French Custard typically served in a pot-shaped cup. This month’s Baking Partner’s challenge was to make Pot de Crème as suggested by Tamy of Savory Kitchen Table. She suggested salted caramel pot de crème and cream cheese version. I am rooting to make that one at first, but afraid that my little ones won’t touch it, as they are only ones helping when comes to sweet. Hubby is staying away from sweets. So I tried this Chocolate pot de crème.

Chocolate is the only thing I can use to lure my kids, that too the dark chocolate. They are not fan of milk chocolate, for them it is too sweet. They love sweet dark chocolate, so this weekend I made it. They loved it, even my 3 year old asked me to make it more. If you have good quality chocolate, yolks, heavy cream, milk and sugar, you can make this decadent chocolate delight. Only thing keep in mind is that you need to make it a few hours ahead before you can serve them. I have seen the recipes without the baking, but not ready to try it as I am giving to kids.

Here are some interesting facts of Pot de crème; August 27th is National Pot de Creme Day. It is slightly set baked custard. It originated in the 17th century. Earlier, cups for pots de crème were beautiful and elaborately made, and numerous types featured two handles and a lid, or a single handle and a lid. Even today, there are some beautiful pots available that add much flair to presenting pots de crème, however most restaurant and homes are using simple ramekins to make pot de crème. I used my ramekins to make it.

First just heat milk and cream then dissolve the chocolate and mix in egg and vanilla extract. Then bake them in water bath. Delicious chocolate pot de crème is ready. Top with little sweetened whipped cream and shaved chocolate. Every bite is smooth and luscious. You will go for next spoon I am sure.

Please check the creations of other baking partners also. If you want to bake with us, shoot me an e-mail. You can join next month baking partners challenge.

Chocolate Pot de crème

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 no

Chocolate Pot de crème

Delicious chocolate pot de creme an easy chocolate dessert for any party.

Ingredients

4 ounce Semi sweet baking chocolate
3 egg yolks
¾ cup heavy cream
½ cup milk
2 ½ tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For sweetened whipped cream

¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line the baking tray with aluminum foil this will prevent ramekins from moving while transferring to oven.

Bring cream and milk just to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.

Remove from heat. Add chocolate; whisk until melted and smooth.

Whisk yolks ,vanilla extract and sugar in large bowl to blend.

Gradually whisk in hot chocolate mixture. Strain mixture into another bowl. Cool 10 minutes, skimming any foam from surface.

Divide custard mixture among four ¾-cup ramekins Cover each with foil.
Place cups in large baking pan. Add enough hot water to pan to come halfway up sides of cups.

Bake until custards are set but centers still move slightly when gently shaken, about 30-35 minutes. Remove from water. Remove foil.

Chill custards until cold, about 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.)
when you ready to serve make sweetened whipped cream with heavy cream and sugar and add a dollop on the top of custard with shaved chocolate.

Notes

This recipe is inspired from here

Loading InLinkz ...

Kale chips

Jun 13, 2015 · 21 Comments

Delicious Kale chips with touch of Soy Sauce and Paprika.

One vegetable which I rarely buy is kale. Yes I have bought them once in a while for making smoothie with Kale. Green Goddess smoothie with kale is my favorite. I got introduced to kale chips when we visited whole foods. I bought some from the store and kids loved it. When I saw kale in Wal-Mart recently I decided to buy it. And finally made my own batch of Kale chips at home; hubby told me why you don’t make it more often. Even my 3 year old is so happy munching it.
Kale is really good and is called queen of greens; I have mentioned its health benefits here .
Kale is a green leafy vegetable that is related to cabbage and belongs to the cruciferous vegetable family that includes vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens and Brussels sprouts. It is most primitive among all other members of that family.

Greeks and Romans grow those 2,200 years ago. Kale is believed to be a native of Mediterranean region of Europe,. It was brought to rest of Europe around 600 BC. In the USA, kale was brought by the English, in the 17th century. Read from here
Kale is a biennial plant that can be planted in the fall to get it through winter in areas where the winter doesn't go below 10 degrees C. It can also be planted in the early spring to until weather gets too warm, as it a cool weather plant. Leaves harvested closer to summer have a bitter taste as compared to the ones harvested in the fall, winter and spring.
When buying kale select only the bright looking, unbruised and untorn leaves. If you are growing kale at home, pick leaves from the outside only as the center leaves keep on growing. Pick leaves only when ready to use as it is at its optimum nutrition value when fresh. Kale is called "Karam Saag" in India.
I was little scared of my kale chip making process. Because not sure whether I can achieve the perfect crispiness and crunch and also tasty without being bitter. I read lot of recipes and tips. Finally learned that you need to wash well and cut it into small bite size pieces then allow to dry it completely. Then make a spice mix or oil so that kale chips will be tastier.
When I read about the recipes, I found that you can make kale chips with just olive oil and salt. If you want you can add other flavors like soy sauce, lime juice and olive oil. I made with soy sauce, lime juice,olive oil and Paparika. Make sure not to add any extra salt. Only add if you need once you tasted the chips. Also use the temperature 325°F /160°C for 15-20 minutes. Closely watch the last 5 minutes so that it won’t be bitter.

Here comes my recipe of Kale chips, give it try. You will love it.

Kale chips

Rating: 51

Prep Time:

Cook Time:

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Kale chips

Delicious kale chips made with touch of soy sauce and paprika.

Ingredients

1 bunch of Kale
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

Pre heat oven to 325F/ 160C.
First wash each leaf thoroughly under the running water. Then remove the thick central part of the leaves.

only cut the leaves into small pieces. Then drain the water using a colander or salad spinner.

Remove the water from the leaves by wiping with kitchen tissue.This step will help to prevent kale chips becoming soggy.
In a mixing bowl mix olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice and paparika.

To the same bowl add kale leaves and mix well so that each leaves will coated with oil mixture.

Place the oil coated leaves in single layer in the baking sheet.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, watch carefully from 12 minutes to prevent burning .

Enjoy as mush as you want.

Notes

This recipe is inspired from here

Strawberry Buttermilk Smoothie

Jun 9, 2015 · 16 Comments

Glass of Strawberry Buttermilk Smoothie makes morning breezy

How is the start of your week, I have become lazy as I have two kids at home. They make the home messy. If I clean a room, it is hardly tidy for an hour. Within an hour it comes to original shape. I wish I have some magic hands, which I can use every time to clean the house, when they make mess. In a crazy morning this strawberry buttermilk smoothie comes to help a lot.
I got this recipe from a magazine I was grazing while waiting for picking up a medicine from pharmacy. Even there were gossip magazine like People’s magazine; I didn’t take a look at it. I went for other magazine which has recipe in it. If you are a food blogger that is your main problem, everywhere you look for recipes. In my hometown language there is a proverb” manjapitham ullavanu ellam manja aayi thonnum”means when you have jaundice you will see everything as yellow. Same thing if you are food blogger you will always looks for recipes everywhere.

My grandma used to make simple butter milk drink called (sambaram) during hot summer days. Actually she would dilute the home made yogurt into thin liquid using water. Then she adds spices, like green chilies, ginger and curry leaves. I have earlier made buttermilk with milk and vinegar. However this time I followed the tip to make buttermilk from yogurt. Nowadays lot of juicy sweet strawberries is available in the market. It is so delicious and hard to resist them while you are passing through the aisle. So I buy every time.

Coming to the smoothie this really easy you just need some yogurt, milk, strawberries, or if you want to make it healthy add some chia seeds or flax seeds. I used flax seed meal. I used sugar for my kids and without sugar for hubby and me. If you want, you can add any favorite sweetness. Give it try. I have tried strawberry lassi earlier. It is also delicious.

Here comes the recipe. Give it try good for busy morning.

Print Recipe

No ratings yet

Strawberry Buttermilk Smoothie

Delicious Strawberry Buttermilk Smoothie makes morning breezy.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #breakfast dishes

Servings: serving

Calories: 137kcal

Ingredients

2 cup strawberries
1 cup buttermilk*
½ cup ice
1 teaspoon flax seed meal use chia seeds if you want
½ tablespoon Sugar/1 teaspoon agave extract I skipped for us where added in kids serving

Instructions

Hull the strawberries and cut it into pieces and add buttermilk, flax seed meal, ice into a blender and blend well until everything combine well.
Serve with or without added sweetener.
*You can make buttermilk substitute by following methods.
•Yogurt: Mix ¾ cup plain yogurt with ¼ cup water to thin.
•Sour Cream: Mix ¾ cup sour cream with ¼ cup plain water to thin.
•Cream of Tartar: Mix 1 cup of milk with 1 ¾ teaspoons cream of tartar. Let stand 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened and curdled.
•Lemon juice/ Vinegar: Mix 1 scant cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes until it is slight thickened and curdled.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from Here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Pin it for later

Pico de Gallo

Jun 3, 2015 · 13 Comments

Delicious and colorful Pico de Gallo goes well with sea food recipes and steak.

" width="800" height="565">

This is a simple and colorful made with fresh ingredients,classic ones includes, tomato, onio, japalenos and lime juice. You can add even fruts and different types of chilies to make it lightly sweeter and spicier.

The weather in Houston is turning into perfect summery that is what my daughter says, yes hot sun. I love these sunny days, even though there is heat, I can do lot of things especially like making sun dried chips and so on. I need to gear up and make some for this year.

My current favorite is cooking Mexican recipes. Yes I was always fond of them, but going to Mexican restaurant is impossible with two little ones. So trying it out at home, and I made this Pico de Gallo which is so easy and amazed that it has only few ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from the book Salsas and Moles: Fresh and Authentic Recipes for Pico de Gallo, Mole Poblano, Chimichurri, Guacamole, and More by Deborah Schneider. In this book author clearly explains the different salsas, mole and other sauces used in Mexican cooking.

" width="612" height="608">
First two pages are about introduction of salsas, according to Deborah, salsas are important side dishes or entities with specific uses, it is either added as a last minute flavor enhancer or to provide heat to dishes or there is chunky fruit salsa which can stand alone with snacks.

Then it is followed by myth about salsas, and the seasoning and elements for salsa flavor and balance; and followed by different type’s chilies and working them etc.
Salsas and Moles book consists of 5 chapters, first one is classic table salsas, which include salsa verde, salsa diabla (fresh tomato salsa with chipotle) Salsa xoconstle are few.

Then next one is the hot salsas with heat index. I love that part. I haven’t tried any of the recipes, but as a lover of hot dishes I will. The hottest being Habanero salsa with heat index of 8 +. On the lesser side is the Mayan hot salsas with heat index 5.

" width="800" height="531">

Third chapter is about Mole and Enchilada sauces. You can find simple enchilada sauce and mole sauce and also there is recipe for three chile salsa boracha and Mole verde.

Fourth chapter is on salsas for tacos with Basic Guacamole, salsa mestiza (Avocado-cilantro sauce) , chimichurri and Pico de Gallo, which I tried and fell in love with it. There is recipe for pickled carrots and jalapenos too.

Last and fifth chapter is about chunky salsas and Botannas which include unique veggies and fruit combinations like Mango Habanero salsa , Jicma and Radish salsa with orange and chile are few.

" width="1000" height="1000">
What I like about this book is its simplicity and the recipes are easy doable. You may need a few authentic things to make delicious salsas and mole. I think it is a good book to have if you are looking to make your dinner or snack time special.

Only thing I found difficult is that font is small and that can make it difficult to read. Also some of the recipes lack the final pictures and if every recipe has the pictures then it will be really wonderful.

" width="2100" height="1500">

What is Pico de gallo?

I tried Pico de Gallo from this book, I followed the exact recipe expect that I used salad tomatoes instead of roma tomatoes mentioned in the recipe. I bought a large batch of salad tomatoes as it was only 69 cents per pound.

I used red onion; you can also use white onion too. I found that it is delicious just as such. You can serve them with sea food or steak.

Indian friends it is really good to go with our chapathi/roti. Next time you can make this Pico de Gallo instead of simple salad you make; it will go along with roti or rice.

If you like to add fruits to Pico de gallo you can do that especially Mango Pico de gallo

" width="800" height="531">

Here comes the recipe.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Pico de Gallo

Delicious Pico de Gallo makes your seafood or steak recipe more delectable. Even have it as salad.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Pico de Gallo

Servings: serving

Calories: 20kcal

Ingredients

2 salad tomatoes seeded and diced into ¼ inches pieces
¼ th of red onion diced into ¼ inch pieces
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 small Serrano chili finely chopped you can remove the seeds and vein if you don’t want heat
1 tablespoon of minced cilantro

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from Salsas and Moles

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

" width="750" height="1120">

Aloo Bhujia /Fried potato Noodles

May 30, 2015 · 19 Comments

Delicious Aloo bhujia makes coffee or tea a bliss

Nowadays I am not making fried snacks as much I used to do. Yes with two kids it is always a daunting task. They will run into the kitchen and want to play there. My son only wants to sit with me. Also my hubby’s sugar level (A1C) is creeping up. I bought a packet of instant mashed potato a month ago thinking of making Aloo bhujia one day. Finally yesterday I was able to make it.
These days boasting about achievements has become part of blogging; how many followers have you got? Then there is a food photography competition ? How many recipes have you written in one year? If you see me I am a lazy goose in this regard. I will post only as much as I can. Blogging is a hobby for me rather than a competition. I know even if I don’t blog, billions of people around the world will still be cooking and eating. My mom used to say to me "Nothing stops and waits for you". You are only a little thing, so flow with the wind.

Since I have instant potato flakes, Aloo Bhujia is really easy to make. Actually this dish is gluten free. It has only besan/ chickpea flour and mashed potato and some spices. When I checked the recipe in Google there are tons of variation. I used the spices which I normally use in this kind of snack along with chat masala. It is a taste that I acquired during childhood, for tea there will always be some snacks available. Mom did not make these kinds of snacks unless during the festivals, so dad would buy it from the store. However in Indian stores, the snacks available are not fresh, made somewhere on last year with never-ending expiry dates.

For this recipe you need a mold to make thin noodles, I have one from India, which my dad had bought for me. Just mix all the flour and spices and you don’t need to add any extra water. As when you dehydrate the potato flakes the water is is enough for making the dough for the noodles. Once you have made the noodles, you fry it in hot oil. Within few minutes your tasty snack is ready. If you don’t have instant potato flakes use a boiled potato and mash it.
Here comes the recipe when you looking for an easy snack idea try this one.

Aloo Bhujia /Fried potato Noodles

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Aloo Bhujia /Fried potato Noodles

Delicious aloo bhujia snack makes your tea or coffee a bliss.

Ingredients

1 cup instant potato flakes
1 cup besan/ Chickpea flour
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon chili powder ( I used spanish parprika)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon chat masala
1 cup hot water
Peanut oil for frying

Instructions

In a small bowl mix instant potato flakes and hot water to form a thick dough.

In another bowl add besan, salt, sugar, spices and mashed potato mixture.

Mix everything thing to form a fine dough.

Heat peanut oil in in a thick bottom pan. Transfer a small amount dough into the mold and press directly into the oil.

After 1 minute flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds.
Once it is golden color remove from the oil and transfer to kitchen towel to remove the excess oil.
Continue the process until you finish the entire dough is used up.
Store in an airtight container and enjoy with your favorite coffee or tea.

Notes

Plantain Tarte Tatin

May 27, 2015 · 26 Comments

Delicious plantain tarte tatin, you can have them without ice cream too.

Here in Houston day before yesterday we had very heavy thunderstorms. All night the city kept issuing flash flooding advisory on the phones and the loud emergency beeps kept us awake. The rains started around 8.30 P.M and there was continuous rainfall for about 5 -6 hours. We lost power twice but it came back after 15 minutes each time. Yesterday morning on TV they are showing lot of stranded cars on highways, and few people had died due to this flash flooding, roads had turned into little lakes. Today also there is heavy rains in morning. Since my kiddos had no school so I didn’t venture out. While sitting at home with two naughty ones, I made some easy dessert plantain tarte tatin for them.
When comes to cooking with bananas, I like to use plantain, its natural sweetness get doubled when it is caramelized. Also while growing up, mom used to make plantain with ghee and brown sugar mixture as our after-school snack. Sometime she would add some fresh coconut too. So when I thought of making tarte tatin. I want to recreate that using plantain, butter and brown sugar.

The tarte Tatin is an upside-down pastry in which the fruit are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. Traditionally it is made with apples, nowadays you can see it with all other fruit. Ttarte Tatin was first created accidentally at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Paris, in the 1880s. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin. Even though there is more conflicting stories about the origin of tarte tartin, most common is that Stéphanie Tatin, who did most of the cooking, was overworked one day. She started to make a traditional apple pie but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar for too long. It resulted in burning smell, and she tried to rescue the dish by putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples, quickly finishing the cooking by putting the whole pan in the oven. After turning out the upside down tart, she was surprised to find how much the hotel guests appreciated the dessert.

Plantains are sturdy compared to bananas. I didn’t use any bourbon in sauce. I used just a splash of vanilla. I also used only one sheet of puff pastry and made it in a pie plate to prevent the oozing out of liquid during baking. If you like puff pastry recipes you will love it. Here comes the simple plantain tarte tatin.

Plantain Tarte Tartin

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Yield: 6-8

Plantain Tarte Tartin

Delicious plantain tarte tartin goes well with dollop of ice cream.

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff-pastry dough, thawed
3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter
¼ cup (50 grams) packed dark-brown sugar
½ teaspoon (2 mL) sea salt flakes
2 large ripe plantain, peeled,sliced in 1 inch pieces
1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of dessicated coconut
All purpose flour for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). If using a 9 inch thick skillet use that other wise roll out your puff pastry on a floured surface to a 5-inch circle and 4 inch rectangle , and trim if necessary. Transfer the pastry to the fridge until needed.

Melt the butter in the sauce pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the sugar and salt. Cook, swirling the skillet occasionally, until the mixture turns medium amber, about 3 minutes

Pour the sugar liquid into two pie plate like me or if you using the skillet you can cook sugar in the skillet.
Arrange the plantains in the pie plate or skillet, overlapping them slightly.

( If you use skillet, then you can cook the plantains for 3 minutes in stove top before placing the puff pastry, if using pie plate then skip this method). Place the pastry round on top of the plantains and add vanilla extract on the top,

and transfer it to the oven. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and puffed, about 25 minutes.

Remove the tarte from the oven, and carefully invert the tart onto a serving plate. when you are ready to serve sprinkle the dessicated coconut.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Idli/Steamed Rice and split black gram cake

May 23, 2015 · 17 Comments

Idli South Indian favorite breakfast dish. Idli delicious healthy south indian favorite breakfast dish made with rice and urad dal. Feremented and steamed to make cake.

Idli the steamed “rice and spilt black gram” cake is one of traditional breakfast dishes of South India. It is made with rice and urad dal ( spilt black gram). Idli is one of the oldest Indian breakfast dish.

According my grandma it is really healthy as it has no fat in it. When you are young who cares about fat, calories etc. I wanted only dosa at that time.

History about Idli

According to K.T.Achaya, a food historian, 'iddalige', was first mentioned in a Kannada work of 920 AD, but this was made from an urad dhal batter only.
The Sanskrit Manasollasa of 1130 AD has 'iddarika', but again made with urad dhal flour only. There is a mention of 'itali' in the Tamil literature in the 17th century.

The reference of modern day ldli (only after 1250 AD) is made with rice grits along with urad dhal; the long fermentation of the mix; and the steaming of the batter to fluffiness.
Achaya's explanation is that this absence from the historical records could mean that idli is an imported concept — perhaps from Indonesia which has a long tradition of fermented products, like tempeh (fermented soy cakes), kecap (from where we get ketchup) or something called kedli, which Achaya says, is like an idli.

This is plausible enough given the many links between Southeast Asia and South India, through Hindu rulers and traders.

Fun facts

March 30th of every year has been celebrated as World Idli Day

Why Idli is considered are healthiest breakfast?

It is made with rice, urad dal( black gram) and salt.First batter is made by ground rice, urad dal then fermentend and cooked using steaming techinique.

No oil, spice is used.

It is not only filling but also delicious with sides like Chutney, sambar, Milagai podi.

Variation

However nowadays, there is lot of variation of idli such as rava idli which is made with semonlina, rice, all purpose flour. The saana ( Goan –Mangalore recipe) made with same ingredients as idli but along with little yeast and sugar.

How to make Idli?

You need following ingredients to make

Rice : I use two rice one is parboiled rice and long grain rice or raw rice.

Urad dal : Use skined spilt urad dal. You can use whole urad dal too. You can use unskined urad dal too. Only thing is idli may have some black specs if you are not able to remove the skin after soaking.

Salt : Use common salt.

Add ons strticly optional, idli raw rice instead of parboiled rice, fenugreek seeds, phoa/ flattend rice flakes. I never use this in my idli recipe.

Points to remember while making

Since I use only one batter for my Dosa and Idli grind rice and urad dal with less water to make thick batter . First two days you can make Idly.Rest of the days you can Dosa.

If you want to follow strict traditional version, then you need to grind rice little coarser than for dosa. But since I use same batter for Idli and dosa I grind the rice smooth. You need to ferment the batter overnight.

I use parboiled rice, raw rice , urad dal soak them for about 5-6 hours and grind rice and dal separately and later mixed together and leave it for overnight for fermentation.

Then next morning add salt and steam the idly in idly pan which has molds in it. It takes about 12 minutes to cook. Once done carefully remove from the mold and enjoy with chutney or sambar.

It makes for a yummy breakfast.
Here comes the recipe.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Idli/Steamed Rice and split black gram cake

Delicious and fat free breakfast made with rice and urad dal.

Total Time9 30

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: breakfast recipes, Idli, ldly, steamed rice cake

Servings: servings

Calories: 238kcal

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice/ pachari/chawal( You can use basmati rice if you can't find long grain rice)
½ cup par boiled rice/ukda chawal
¾ cup skinless split urad dal skinless black gram
2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Indian gingerly oil/ Nallaennai You can use Vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil if you can’t get hold of gingerly oil
Water for grinding

Instructions

Soak both rice together and dal separately in bowl to cover them about 2" deep. Soak 8 hours or overnight.
The next morning, drain all the water from the rice and urad dal. Wash two three times and drain and put some in a food processor/ grinder and grind - adding very little water if necessary - to a smooth yet slightly grainy paste. You need to grind both rice and dal separately.
When all the rice-daal mix is ground like this, put it into a large mixing bowl and add enough water to make a batter.
Keep the batter aside in a warm, dark spot, covered, for 6-8 hours.
After this fermentation, stir the batter well and add salt.
when your are ready to make idli grease idli mold with little gingerly oil.
Add little less ¼ cup batter in each mold
Cover and steam it for about 12 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
Carefully remove each using small spoon.
continue to make idli until required numbers.
Serve with
chutney and
idli milagai podi or
sambhar

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas

May 20, 2015 · 25 Comments

Delicious strawberry cheesecake chimichangas easy Tex -Mex dessert made with fresh strawberries, creamcheese.

One day hubby comeback from dinner with some of his colleagues at work, and showed me a photo of chimichangas. He told me it was delicious, and as usual I consulted Google to learn more about it. Google came up with lot of recipes; I decided to try a sweet version which my kids would love, and made this strawberry cheesecake chimichangas.

Chimichanga is basically deep-fried burritos usually made with Mexican rice, meat filled in soft flour tortilla and folded into rectangle package and later fried in hot oil served with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, and/or cheese. There are lots of theories behind the origin of chimichanga from here, one theory is that when a cook accidentally drops the burritos into the hot oil and it ended up getting fried, she called it chimichanga (means toasted monkey) and may be related to golden color of burritos. Difference between a burrito and chimichanga is this, the former is a flour tortilla envelope, stuffed and then folded and sealed with flour and water; whereas chimichanga is a burrito that has been chilled to let the edges seal and then is deep fried.

Usually chimichangas is savory dish made with chicken, beans, potato, and rice as filling. I tried making them savory with my favorite veggie filling which I used to make samosa. My kids are not found of them. So decide to try a sweet version. Nowadays, we can get juicy fresh strawberries. Even there is strawberry festival going on near Pearland, a 45 mile drive from my house last week. I couldn’t attend go to the festival this time; perhaps the next time. When I checked recipes for Chimichangas I came to know I need soft flour tortilla which I thought of making at home first from scratch. Later dropped the idea and bought it from store. I also bought some cream cheese and sour cream. Once you have everything in hand it is really easy to put together.

You need to warm up flour tortilla little bit so that it will be flexible, then stuff in with strawberry cheesecake filling and wrap it into a rectangle package and fry it hot oil until it is golden brown in color. Brush it with some butter and roll it in cinnamon sugar serve with some more fresh strawberries. It is delicious treat. But it great when they are light warm out from the oil, if you like Tex-Mex dishes give it try it is really easy. It won’t disappoint you.

First make filling with cream cheese, sugar and strawberries

Then fill the flour tortilla with strawberry creamcheese filling and fold it into shape of cigar

Then fry those tortilla wrap and brush with butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar .

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas

Delicious strawberry cheesecake chimichangas easy Tex -Mex dessert made with fresh strawberries.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Tex-Mex

Keyword: Chimichangas recipes, Strawberry cheesecake Chimichangas

Servings: pieces

Calories: 227kcal

Ingredients

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoon sour cream
1 Tablespoon plus ¼ cup sugar divided
½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
7 8-inch soft flour tortillas
1 ¾ cups sliced strawberries divided
½ Tablespoon cinnamon
oil for frying
Butter for brushing on chimmichangas

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese with the sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, lemon zest,
scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Fold in 1 cup of the sliced strawberries.
Slightly warm tortilla in stove for 30 second both sides so that it becomes flexible.
Place tablespoon of strawberry cream cheese filling in the center of tortilla.
Next, fold the two sides of each tortilla toward the center
and then roll the tortilla up like a burrito and
secure it with a toothpick. Repeat the rolling process with the remaining tortillas.
Combine the remaining ¼ cup sugar with the cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set it aside. Line a large plate with paper towels.
Add 3 inches of oil to a large, thick bottomed pan, leaving a minimum of 2 inches from the top of the oil to the top of the saucepan. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 360 F .
Working in batches of two, fry chimichangas until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes, flipping them as needed.
Transfer the chimichangas to the paper towel-lined plate to drain for 1 minute,
brush them with butter while it is warm.
Then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Repeat the frying and rolling process with the remaining chimichangas, returning the oil to 360F between batches.
Remove all toothpicks from the chimichangas and transfer them to serving plates. Top each with a portion of the remaining ¾ cup of sliced strawberries and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Elvis Presley's Favorite Vanilla Pound Cake

May 15, 2015 · 25 Comments

Delicious simple vanilla pound cake goes well with any fruit or dollop of whipped cream.

" width="800" height="595">

I came to know about Elvis late in my life, however in India we have an old actor who copied Elvis style and was famous there, none other Shammi Kapoor. There is also a famous song starts with the Yahoo starring Shammi. For this month baking partner’s challenge we are going to make Elvis Presely’s favorite vanilla pound cake. When I asked what recipe they want to see in next challenge, baking partners asked for a pound cake. So I made this simple vanilla pound cake. It is really delicious.

Normally I am afraid of pound cake. Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. However, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar can call itself as a pound cake, as it yields the same results. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a Bundt mold, and served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or sometimes with a coat of icing. Pound cake is a favorite of Southern cuisine.

Coming to this Elvis Presley’s favorite vanilla pound cake, it was made by his childhood friend Janelle McCombone. She makes two loaves every Christmas for him. Elvis would finish one loaf by himself. She gave the recipe on his 10th death anniversary to a local newspaper. When I saw the recipe I got immediately hooked. It has everything that a pound cake needs along with one best thing heavy cream. I made little modification to the recipe. I reduced ½ cup of sugar and also increased the amount of vanilla extract. One more thing about the pound cake is that it is dense and has no leavening. Goes well with fresh fruit and dollop of whip cream, and if you have any leftovers you can toast them little bit like bread and enjoy that too delicious.

I didn’t add any syrup or glazing as I thought it will become sweeter. If you want you can add glaze and syrup of your favorite choice. If you want to make your pound cake summer or springy you can add lemon zest, lemon juice or any other citrus which you like. I found the simple pound cake itself delicious that is why it became the favorite of the King of Rock and Roll.

Give it try you will love it, please visit rest of baking partners for variation of pound cakes.

Print Recipe

4.89 from 9 votes

Elvis Presley’s Favorite Vanilla Pound Cake

Delicious simple vanilla pound cake perfect with any kinds of fruits.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Total Time3 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pound cakes, vanilla pound cakes

Servings: 9 inch and 1 4 inch loaf

Calories: 2267kcal

Ingredients

½ cup /113.4g / 1 stick unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan
1 ½ cups / 150g / sifted cake flour not self-rising; sift before measuring plus additional for dusting ( I used 1 cup all purpose flour + 2 tablespoon cornstarch to make 1 cup of cake flour, in a measuring cup add 2 tablespoon of cornstarch first and then add all purpose flour. And sift the flour 5 times)
⅓ teaspoon 2g / salt
1 ¼ cups 250g/ sugar
3 and ½ large eggs at room temperature 30 minutes ( Each egg is 63g each )
2 teaspoons 6.25 g / vanilla
½ cup 240g/ heavy cream You can use fresh cream

Instructions

Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Once you sifted the homemade cake flour for 5 times, then add salt and sift together once again. If using cake flour then you need to sift only 3 times.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer
at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, For ½ egg ( beat one egg in separate bowl, and add 1 ½ tablespoon of egg to mixture, 1 large egg is about 3 tablespoon,so use only half of it for half egg).
then beat in vanilla.
Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition.
Scrape down side of bowl, and then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.
Transfer the batter into pan and tap the pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles.
Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 ¼ hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Loading InLinkz ...

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

May 13, 2015 · 15 Comments

Ice cream is an after school snacking which my princess loves to eat. First thing she asks after getting into the car is can I have I-Pad and ice cream. I ask her were you a good girl today then you can have it. Also nowadays I make ice cream at home rather than buying. While shopping in Wal-Mart I found a strawberry cheese cake ice cream recipe in a cook book. However I don’t want to use that recipe as it has raw egg in it. So finally find out a recipe without raw eggs. I made this strawberry cheesecake Ice cream and it is delicious.

I have made strawberry ice cream earlier which my little ones love. So this time I wanted to try another recipe. I decided to try strawberry cheesecake ice cream. I was a fan of Hagen das ice cream but after coming to Texas I got hooked to Blue bell ice cream. Now my kiddos love ice cream so I make ice cream at home. Also I want to stay away from the store bought ice cream because of Listeria outbreak in blue bell ice cream.

Once you make ice cream in home, you know what the contents are and be able to control the amount of sugar and other ingredients. I found another advantage of making homemade ice cream is that you can try different flavors, the possibility are endless. Furthermore when I can get 1 pound strawberries for 99 cents, how can I resist the urge of making strawberry dishes? It is really easy to make this ice cream, you need some fresh juicy strawberries, a can of sweetened condensed milk , a cream cheese stick, heavy cream and zesty of lemon.
Make the ice cream mixture a day before and next morning churn the ice cream using your favorite ice cream maker. Give it try you will love it. Here comes the recipe.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 9 hours

Yield: 1 quart

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Delicious and luscious strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

Ingredients

11/2 cups strawberries hulled, washed and chopped
14 oz/ 1 ¾ cup of sweetened condensed milk
8 oz /1 cup cream cheese
½ of one 1emon
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions

First wash and hull the strawberries and let it dry in kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
In a blender add cream cheese, heavy cream and condensed milk and lemon zest and beat well to combine every thing.

Puree the strawberries with lemon juice.

Mix strawberry puree with cream cheese- heavy cream-condensed milk mixture. Set aside for overnight

Next morning churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.

If you don't have ice cream machine: try this method.

First freeze a baking dish while you are preparing the ice cream mixture. Pour mixture into frozen baking dish, freeze for 45 minutes. Take it out, break up frozen bits with whisk or spatula. Repeat this process at 30 minute intervals until it’s nearly impossible to break apart anymore. Scoop into Tupperware containers and place in freezer until ready to serve.

Notes

List of other ice cream recipe in this blog

Homemade strawberry ice cream

Mango Ice cream

Pineapple ice cream

Cashew caramel ice cream

Jackfruit ice cream

Dulce de leche Ice cream

Avocado Mango Salsa

May 9, 2015 · 17 Comments

Delicious avocado mango salsa goes with anything.

Whenever, I stand in line in any grocery store, I have habit of flipping the books on the stand. I always go for cook books; I found this Avocado Mango salsa from one of book. I decide to make it yesterday, but I didn’t have any coriander leaves, Serrano pepper and lime in hand. So made a trip to grocery store one more time today and made this Avocado Mango salsa.
One more interesting thing happened today; I got a call from sales representative for some resort. She told me I have been selected a winner and going to get $49,000 or 17,000 worth of shopping free in famous department stores like Macy’s if I didn’t get those I will at least get $500. I know this is scam by timeshare guys. We both husband and I went to similar event in Utah, after 1 hour of lecture; they ask us to sign a deal of about $30, 000 worth timeshare. I still remember the opening statement on that talk was, the guy who so upset that his parents can’t take him to vacation in great resort. I mind I thought hey, they at least they gave you food and education so you can’t blame them. I even told this incident to today’s rep and told her we have no time to waste.

She given the address and phone number, I told her I will talk to hubby and call you about the time and cut the call. I talked to hubby, and he told me it is scam. Just out of curiosity I checked their name in Google, trust me I surprised to see the amount of complaints people have written. After that another lady called me and asked for time of appointment. I told her I am not coming as something else has come up. If they call me again I am not going to up the phone. If I win the contest then they should give the money, it is not like that, and they actually want my money. I am not going to give them. I don’t need anybody’s money; at same time don’t like to be fooled.

Coming back to salsa recipe, it is really easy, grab, sweet onion, tomato, lime juice, avocado, mango and Serrano pepper. I thought my mango was so sweet from its color, but turned out it has some tang. Make sure to cut avocado and add lime juice to prevent its discoloration, mainly due to phenol content present in avocado. Then mix rest of ingredients and set aside for an hour to get flavors mingle each other. Enjoy with your favorite chips, we had with multigrain tortilla bowls.

Here comes colorful salsa.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Avocado Mango Salsa

Delicious avocado mango salsa with spicy Serrano pepper.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Avocado mango salsa

Servings: serving

Calories: 263kcal

Ingredients

1 Mango
1 Avocado
⅓ Sweet Onion
1 Serrano pepper
1 tomato
1 lime
3 sprigs of coriander leaves/cilantro

Instructions

First peel the skin and deseed mango and chopped into cubes.
Peel avocado and chopped into cubes and immediately pour lime juice into it and set aside.
Then remove the seeds from tomato and Serrano pepper and chopped into cubes.
Finally chop sweet onion and coriander leaves/cilantro and set aside.
Mix everything and set aside for few minutes to 1 hour so that flavors will get infused.
Enjoy with chips or as side.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Pin it for later

Other salsa recipes

Pineapple Mango Salsa

Serrano tomato Salsa

Chakka kuru Manga curry/ Jack fruit seeds and raw mango curry

May 6, 2015 · 13 Comments

This Chakka kuru Manga curry/Jackfruit seeds and raw mango curry is one of typical curries in my hometown Kerala, India. This curry is mostly made during the summer months when jackfruit and mango are available in plenty. After buying a whole jackfruit from the Hong Kong market, I had lots of jackfruit seeds. I was planning to make this curry for long time. However since raw mango is really expensive, hubby always give me a questioning look do you want this? I told him I really need it this time and bought it. Then coming home, I made Chakka kuru Manga curry. Even though its name is complicated it is really simple curry.
I want to share something other than this curry with you. I am a person who loves to drive like a bus driver who follows the route in same direction every day. Today my habit of following the same route got disrupted. Yes there was major accident in the road, police close entire 3 line traffic in one direction and rerouting to another way. With no choice as I have to drop my kids to school I followed rest of cars in front of my vehicle. After driving for a few miles, I lost the sense of direction as I was in an area that I was not familiar with. Finally I turned car into an auto spare parts store and asked them how to get major highway. Guys in the store told me to follow turn left and go. I thought since I came this far, give it a shot to check where is my daughter’s school. When I put the address on Google map it indicated that it will only take 8 minutes to reach the school. Then for last shot I followed the route which map shows and reached her school after 1 hour of driving around. Normally it would take about 25 minutes of driving. I was contacting hubby in the meantime through the phone. Finally he gave a complement saying with this episode you know how to get back if you are lost. For me it was not a fun experience still I learned something. Yes every day is something interesting to learn is it?

Coming back to the curry, it is really easy; first you need to half cook jack fruit as it needs more time to cook. You can do it either pressure cooking them for 1 whistle or for about 30 minutes. Then once again cook both jack fruit ( chakka kuru) and manga( raw mango) together for some more time. Finally add spicy coconut paste and finish the cooking with seasoning. This is really delicious curry goes well with a bowl of rice and some side dish. Give it try it is easy one.

Chakka kuru Manga curry/ Jack fruit seeds and raw mango curry

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Chakka kuru Manga curry/ Jack fruit seeds and raw mango curry

Delicious chakka kuru manga curry/ Jack fruit seeds and raw mango curry cooked in spicy coconut gravy.

Ingredients

15 Jackfruit seeds
1 green mango
1 green chili
½ cup coconut
3 red chilies
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
2 cloves of garlic
3 small onion/ pearl onion
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
3 cups water
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 sprigs of curry leaves

Instructions

Cook jack fruit seeds/ chakka kuru with little turmeric, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 cup of water

for about 25 minutes or until it is half cooked.

Then once it cools enough to touch remove the brown skin from the jack fruit seeds and cut into pieces and set aside.

In a small sauce pan add cooked jack fruit seeds and chopped raw mango pieces, one chopped green chili , rest of turmeric and 1 cup water and cook until mango pieces and jack fruit pieces cooked well.

In the mean time grind coconut, garlic, cumin seeds and 2 red chilies and ½ cup water into fine paste.

Once the jack fruit and mango pieces are cooked

add the ground coconut spice paste and add rest of the water cook for another 5 minutes.

In a small pan add coconut oil, mustard seeds, halved red chili, curry leaves and chopped pearl onion and fry until mustard seeds pop, add this seasoning into the curry.

Enjoy the curry with a bowl of rice.

Notes

Blueberry Banana Muffins

May 1, 2015 · 16 Comments

As weather is getting warm, we are going out on the weekends, so there is no baking during weekends which I prefer a lot. However my little ones want to see monkeys and elephants more than eating a cake. The zoo takes precedence over a baking adventure. Along with visiting the zoo, grocery shopping is an important event in weekends. My hubby buys blueberries every time he does grocery shopping. My daughter loves it one day but the next day she is not fond of it. And I like to bake with them. I had earlier tried blueberry banana muffins, but that time I used oats. However this time I skipped the oats and made these delicious blueberry banana muffins.

This recipe is from “Lighten up, y’all “by Virgina Willis; I got a complimentary copy for review from “Blogging for books”. Author who is from Georgia(USA) received her training in France, and has cooked with Julia Child, prepared lunch for President Clinton and catered a bowling party for Jane Fonda.

Lighten up, y’all is a good book if you have leanings towards the southern cooking. Book is divided into 10 chapters starting with starters and nibbles; in this section you can find delicate squash chips to lightened seven layer dip, to name just a few. I am looking forward to make baked onion blossom from that section. Then come salads and slaw section with interesting broccoli slaw.
The third chapter is about vegetable dishes with traditional southern favorite fired okra turned into oven fried okra. Then there is braised collard in tomato gravy. In the chapter 4 is about grains and grits, which include broccoli and cheese with rice grits. And southern New Year favorite Hoppin John, it caught my attention because I started following the tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Year day for bringing good luck. Chapter 5 is about seafood, and I am planning to make beer battered shrimp with spicy ketchup. You can also find smoky sea food Etoufee, pan seared fish steaks. Sixth chapter is about poultry, oven fried chicken on a stick looks very delectable along with slow cooked barbecue pulled chicken.

Chapter 7 has pork, beef and lamb recipes, Bourbon grilled pork chops looks delicious. Soups and stews becomes chapter 8, beef and farro soup sounds interesting. Chapter 9 has biscuits, breads, yes southern cornbread with lot of vegetables and there is buttermilk biscuits are few recipes. I tried blueberry banana muffins from this section. Chapter 10 has sweet dishes, with brown sugar-strawberry shortcakes, baked apple hand pies and yogurt pie crust etc.
One thing I found is that she uses more whole wheat pastry flour and Greek yogurt in her sweets, bread, muffin recipes. Even though whole wheat pastry flour is good, one drawback is that not available in regular grocery stores, you need to visit specialty stores to stock them up. I like the cookbook because recipes are well written and pictures are really good. However not all the recipes have pictures? May be author doesn’t find the importance of putting a cheddar muffins, or blueberry muffins, but there are quite a few dishes with photos. Few southern favorite recipes are missing, like, pecan pie, fried chicken etc.
If you want a leaner version of southern cooking this is the book for you. Each recipe has nutritional information that is very good point.

I made blueberry banana muffin recipe from the book; it is delicious whole wheat pastry flour and Greek yogurt made soft and fluffy. It is really easy to put together, you can make with fresh and frozen blueberries. I used fresh blueberries my kiddos loved it. Here comes the recipe.

*”I received complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books for this review.”*

Blueberry Banana Muffins and Book Review

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 6

Blueberry Banana Muffins and Book Review

Delicious and soft blueberry banana muffins best to start your breakfast.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
⅓ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon baking soda
Half of 1 large egg
1 medium banana mashed
¼ cup Greek yogurt
⅛ cup canola oil
¼ cup butter milk
1 cup blueberries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 F/163C and grease a 6 cup muffin tin generously with non stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine, the flour, sugar, salt, ginger and baking soda and set aside.

In another bowl add mashed bananas, eggs, yogurt, oil and butter milk and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until it is just combined.

Using a rubber spatula gently fold in the berries.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin.

Bake until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
Rotate the muffin tin halfway through baking. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from the pan to a wire rack.
Enjoy warm. Store it an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Notes

This recipe adapted from Lighten up, y’all

Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread

Apr 28, 2015 · 28 Comments

Delicious sourdough whole wheat bread crusted with poppy and sesame seeds.Goes well with some dipping oil or as toast with butter

Every time I bake bread, I feel a satisfaction, especially with my sourdough is really at high. I like to bake with commercial yeast also. Still sourdough gives me immense satisfaction.

I feed sourdough babies every day. After long time I baked this sourdough whole wheat bread. It is made with my white starter.
Currently I am maintaining two starters, one white starter and one rye starter. When I want to make rye bread I use rye starter. Otherwise I use white starter for all other bread. I have more bread baking books in my collection than any other cookbooks.

One time when we are borrowing books from library, even the librarian asked me do you bake lots of bread.

You can imagine number of bread baking books I checked out. This recipe is adapted from Josey Baker’s bread book. I had earlier tried cinnamon whole wheat bread from that book, which we loved.

My princess like good sourdough bread, which is not that sour, but it does have a lovely crunchy crust and chewy interior. Both I and hubby are fans of rye bread; once again rye is good for you. It is delicious but you need to have an acquired taste to find it tasty.

For this sourdough bread, I fed the starter 24 hours before making the starter for the bread. Starter was made late in the night. Next morning after 12 hours, I made the bread dough and did folding for 30 minutes interval for first 2 hours and then another 2 hours of rest. Then shaped the bread, I loved the trick of wrapping the dough with wet cloth and then sprinkling poppy and sesame seeds on the top so that it will stick to the bread easily. Otherwise whenever I try to sprinkle the seeds and nuts on the top of bread, it will floating here and there starting from baking bread baking and even during the final cutting. When comes to final bread you will see seeds and nuts in only few areas.

Actually this bread is adapted from a recipe which has sesame and poppy seed included in the bread, but I skipped it and only used seeds as topping, may be next time I will try to add it to bread. Here is the delicious whole wheat bread, give it try you will love it. Here comes the recipe.

Day before baking make leaven overnight or in the morning. by mixing flour, water and starter. and set aside.

When leaven is ready mix in white whole wheat flour, leaven, water.

After 3o minutes add salt and mix well again.

Fold the dough for 10 times, and leave it aside for another 30 minutes at room temperature.

Repeat the process of folding for another two 30 minutes intervals.

Then leave the dough for about 3-4 hours until it doubles in volume until you see the sourdough activity.

Transfer the dough to slightly floured surface and shape it into round ball,

Wrap with a wet towel and leave it aside for 15 minutes

In the mean time, in plate add about 3 tablespoon of white sesame seeds and 2 tablespoon poppy seeds and mix well.

After 15 minutes transfer the dough into the plate with seeds and roll it well so that seeds will get stuck to entire dough uniformly.

Transfer it into unfloured proofing basket.If you are baking the bread on the same day, leave it for another 3-4 hours. Or transfer the dough to the refrigerator and do a overnight cold fermentation.

After bulk fermentation

Ready for baking

After baking at 475 F close Dutch oven with lid and bake it for about 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and parchment paper and bake it for another 25 minutes and if the bread is not dark brown give another 5 -10 minutes

Print Recipe

5 from 12 votes

Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread

Delicious sourdough whole wheat bread crusted with poppy seeds and sesame seeds.

Prep Time12

Cook Time45

Total Time12 45

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: sourdough bread

Servings: servings

Calories: 139kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

Leaven
1 teaspoon 5g Sourdough starter
¼ cup 60g cool water
⅓ cup 50g white whole wheat flour
Dough
1 ½ cups 360g luke warm water
3 ¼ cups 455g white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon 12g sea salt
Entire Leaven
3 tablespoon white sesame seeds for coating
2 tablespoon poppy seeds for coating

Instructions

In a small bowl mix everything for the leavin, and set aside for 12-14 hours at room
temperature.
In a big bowl, mix the all the ingredients for the dough including leaven and mix everything well
and leave it for 30 minutes.
Fold the dough for 10 times, and leave it aside for another 30 minutes at room temperature.
Repeat the process of folding for another two 30 minutes intervals.
Then leave the dough for about 3-4 hours until it doubles in volume until you see the sourdough
activity.
Transfer the dough to slightly floured surface and shape it into round ball,
Wrap with a wet towel and leave it aside for 15 minutes
In the mean time, in plate add about 3 tablespoon of white sesame seeds and 2 tablespoon
poppy seeds and mix well.
After 15 minutes transfer the dough into the plate with seeds and roll it well so that seeds will
get stuck to entire dough uniformly.
Transfer it into unfloured proofing basket.If you are baking the bread on the same day, leave it
for another 3-4 hours. Or transfer the dough to the refrigerator and do a overnight cold
fermentation.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven 475F, you can preheat the oven with Dutch oven
or pizza stone. If you are done overnight cold fermentation, then transfer the dough to
parchment paper.
Carefully remove the lid of Dutch oven and transfer the dough, if you want you can score them.
And close Dutch oven with lid and bake it for about 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and
parchment paper and bake it for another 25 minutes and if the bread is not dark brown give
another 5 -10 minutes.
Let cool the bread for 45 minutes and then slice and enjoy.

Notes

For How to make Starter please check here

This recipe adapted fromJosey Baker's Bread Book

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Chocolate truffle cake

Apr 22, 2015 · 15 Comments

Here it has been raining for the whole week. On Friday we had very heavy rain with flash flooding. Thank God we didn’t have any episode of flash flooding. But the ground is saturated and any more rain will result in flooding. As it was raining whole week I was cooking only regular food and not much baking as it is hard to take photo of finished product. Finally as I need a post for Baking partner’s challenge I decide to make this chocolate truffle cake. It is really easy you need two days to make it.
This month baking partner’s challenge was suggested by Suja of Kitchencorner try it. She suggested both flourless chocolate cookie and chocolate truffle cakes. I made the chocolate truffle cake. This cake is easy to make and full of chocolate yes. It has chocolate truffle you need to make a day before baking, and next day make the cake and stuff the chocolate truffles in it. This cake is not soft and is more like a fudge brownies. If you are chocolate lover it will be hard to resist this cake.

It is really a simple recipe that is full of chocolate, with chocolate truffles, cocoa powder and also rich in butter and eggs. If you like fudgy brownies you are going to love it. My kids are fan of chocolate they like really well. This cake is not overly sweet. So you can try with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream. It is best when it is slightly warm. The chocolate truffle in the center gives a lava effect while having a bite. Yes chocolate oozed out in the center.
Give it a try it won’t disappoint you. If you want to bake with us next month please shoot an e-mail.

Chocolate truffle cake

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 12 hours, 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours, 30 minutes

Yield: 9

Chocolate truffle cake

Chocolate truffle cake is ultimate dream of a chocolate lover.

Ingredients

Chocolate truffle

4 ounce semisweet baking chocolate
⅓ cup heavy cream

For the chocolate cocoa cake

6 tablespoon butter(cut into pieces) + 2 teaspoon melted
⅓ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa- ½ cup
4 ounce semi sweet baking chocolate
2 large egg
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

To make the truffles
Place 4 ounce semi sweet chocolate and t ⅓ cup heavy cream in a small microwave safe bowl and heat for about 30 seconds,

Remove it and stir well with fork. Continue to heat and stir until you get finely mixed chocolate.

Place this in the freezer for 15 minutes. Divide it into 9 equal parts and roll into balls.

Place the truffles into paper lined plates and place in the freezer.

To make the chocolate cake

Preheat the oven to 325 degree F. Lightly coat the inside of muffin tin ( 3 inch diameter cups) with melted butter. Set this aside.
In a sifter combine flour and cocoa powder. Sift and keep aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave and stir until smooth.

Place egg, egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat on medium high heat with an electric mixer.

When it is frothy

add the butter chocolate mixture and beat for 15 seconds.

Fold in the dry ingredients along with vanilla extract.

Fill three forth of each muffin cup with the batter and bake for about 5-6 minutes.

Remove the truffle from the freezer. Quickly take the muffin tray from the oven and press one truffle each to the center of the muffin.

Immediately return the baking pan into the oven and continue baking until a toothpick inserted into the cake (not the center truffle portion but the edge of the cake) comes out clean. It will take 20 minutes.. Cool in room temperature for 20 minutes. Run a knife around each cake to loosen it and then gently pull the baked cake out of the cup. Serve while still warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes

This recipe is adapted fromDeath by Chocolate Cakes: An Astonishing Array of Chocolate Enchantments By Marcel Desaulniers

Loading InLinkz ...

Creating Everlasting Memories with HomeTeam™

Apr 15, 2015 · 156 Comments

This a sponsored post however all opinion are mine.

Both my dad and in-laws are in India, so my kids get to talk to them only through phone. I call my dad every other day, whereas we call in-laws on weekends. Both grandparents and my daughter and son are always excited to talk about all the things that is happening throughout the whole week. My daughter is ultimate fan of Curious George, Martha speaks, Caillou and Daniel Tiger. She wants to do everything that Curious George does. Especially when he is eating donuts, she needs to eat donuts. When Curious George counts she wants to count too. Daniel Tiger goes to school with his grandpa, so she wants her grandparents to drop her off and pick her up from the school. My 3 year old is fan of 5 little monkeys and animal sounds; he likes to play it in IPad. Every morning my son will come to me with a list of the books he wants me to read to him, in addition to those bedtime stories. Coming to bedtime stories, I miss my grandma; when I was young she used to recite bedtime stories, at first it is simple stories. Later bedtimes stories includes great epic of Hindu cultures, yes she tell the stories from the both books, Ramayana and Mahabharata. She taught me not only stories written in them but also how to interpreted morals from those stories. When we visited India their grandma also did the same thing telling stories to both of them, not only during bed time but also when she wants them to be quiet. She also plays with them. My kids miss those story times and play times, so every time when we call, my daughter and son will end the call like this: "Grandma we are coming next week in an airplane to see you!" So when I got an opportunity to learn about an online app by Panasonic called HomeTeam™ that connects grandparents and grandkids anytime and anywhere, I grabbed it immediately. HomeTeam™ users can read books and play games together through video chat. The service includes several popular children’s books like Curious George, Martha Speaks, 5 Little Monkeys, Tuesday, Animal Sounds and engaging multiplayer games. New users can sample the entire HomeTeam experience, including unlimited access to content and all features free of charge for 30 days. And if they like it there is a premium subscription for unlimited content.

I thought it would be a wonderful idea, as both grand kids and grandparents will have something to talk about and do things together in person. It gives great opportunities to share activities and help to create everlasting memories just like I did while growing up. It is not only fun and engaging games and stories, but also educational lessons by helping grand kids in learning basic math, vocabulary, science, logic and more. In the digital age, bridges are coming in closer; yes HomeTeam™ keeps you on the same page. Read stories together, read to each other... like you do in person. One fine thing I found that it has hundreds of titles, from classics like Curious George (my daughter is a crazy fan) to the latest popular book series. Both my kids will enjoy if they can team up with their grandma and grandpas and play games together. Yes, games includes classics like Checkers and Chess to new games exclusive to HomeTeam™. This way they don’t need to wait for that yearly trip - sometimes it takes us about 2-3 years to visit grandparents and play with them.

This HomeTeam™ app is available to download in the App Store and Google Play on 3/24. Which feature of HomeTeam™ are you most excited to use? Tell me in the comments for a chance to win a $100 VISA gift card. Entry Instructions: No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 4/15/2015 – 5/17/2015

Be sure to visit the Panasonic HomeTeam brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

Vishukatta/ Rice and coconut milk cake

Apr 14, 2015 · 12 Comments

Delicious Vishukatta , cooked rice cakes with coconut milk and cumin served with sweet jaggery water. Traditional breakfast on Vishu Festival day.

In India Vishu has already arrived whereas I have few more hours to go. Vishu is one of the traditional festivals I love enjoys and celebrates with full fun. As it is a working day for my hubby and kids I am going make only a few dishes and have the Sadya for dinner. In addition to make vegetable feast sadya, I also wanted to try some of the traditional Vishu recipes. Vishukatta is one of traditional breakfast served in central Kerala which I made yesterday for the first time.
Vishukatta is must in Thrissur, Central Kerala. It is served as breakfast. Actually it is simple dish with just 3 ingredients. Rice, coconut milk and cumin seeds, and traditionally made without adding any salt. But I added little bit of salt as I thought without it nobody will try it in my home. You can notice simplicity in Vishu dishes, as it comes during, chakka /Jackfruit and manga /mango season. So these two dominates mainly whether it is curry or dessert it is made with either of them.

Even though Vishukatta consist of breakfast dish, I think we can have them for brunch or as little snack. For making this recipe the only thing you need to do is cook the rice in coconut milk. First you need to cook them in thin coconut milk then thick coconut milk, finally when it is almost cooked add some cumin seeds and salt.

The cooked mushy rice is transferred to a greased plate, spread and cut it into pieces once it is cooled down. That is why it is called Vishukatta, literal meaning will be square pieces made during Vishu. It is usually enjoyed with syrup made of jaggery and ground ginger. But I prefer them with spicy curry. Even pickles go well with them.
I made only a small quantity as I am was not sure of how it would taste and I knew my kids won’t care about it. It was delicious both hubby and me finished the entire Vishukatta.

Here comes the recipe, if you are looking for some change in breakfast give it try it is gluten free too.

Other tradtional Recipes for vishu are
Vishu Kanji/Salt version

Sweet Vishu Kanji

Kaniyappam

Print Recipe

5 from 14 votes

Vishukatta/ Rice and coconut milk cake

Delicious cooked rice cakes with coconut milk and cumin served with sweet jaggery water. Traditional breakfast on Vishu Festival day.

Prep Time5

Cook Time40

Total Time45

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Vishukatta, Vishurecipes

Servings: serving

Calories: 389kcal

Ingredients

⅓ cup raw red rice Unalakari
¾ cup thick coconut milk
2 cups water
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon salt you can skip this if you want to make it more authentic
Ghee for greasing the plate

For Sarkara Pani

¼ cup jaggery
⅛ cup water
½ teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

In a saucepot add ¼ cup coconut milk and 2 cup water (this is randam pal)
and bring it to boil.
Once it is boiled add washed drained rice and cook until the water completely evaporates
To this add thick coconut milk and continue cook
and until rice becomes thick add cumin seeds and salt if you adding.
Grease a small plate or pie pan with ghee and transfer the cooked rice and spread it evenly.
When it cools down cut it into pieces and enjoy with jaggery water.
In a small sauce pot add jaggery and water melt first and strain the impurities. Then bring boil again and add ground ginger powder.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Chakka payasam/Jackfruit pudding

Apr 11, 2015 · 20 Comments

Delicious sweet pudding made with fresh jackfruit, with touch of coconut and milk.

Next week is our harvest festival Vishu; it is on April 15 th2015. It is one of the traditional festivals celebrated all over Kerala, South India my home town. I makes elaborate feast and celebrate with full zing usually. This year as it coming on working day, I will be making few dishes and a paysam (sweet pudding) along with traditional ritual of seeing Vishukani in the early morning on that day. Usually both chakka (jackfruit) and Manga (mango) is available in plenty during vishu time. So variety of dishes is made with them. I tried this Chakka Payasam/Jackfruit pudding last weekend as I bought some fresh jackfruit from Hong Kong Market.

Only after Vishu, rice is planted so that it will get ready for another festival in 4-5 months. Around this time the Cassia plant ( Cassia fistula,golden shower tree) is in bloom with its beautiful golden flower just in time for Vishu and it will be another year for it to bloom again. On Vishu we starts the day with Vishu Kani which means seeing fruits, books, gold, money, rice and vegetables in a vessel kept near the Krishna idol in puja room ( worshipping room) very early in the morning with the belief that the coming year will be prosperous. Once Kani is done then Vishukaineetam (money) is given by the elders to younger ones in the family; it symbolizes the importance of sharing.

I have to try few traditional Vishu recipes on my list, of which I have tried Kaniyappam, Vishu kanji, Mampazha Kalan. Now in the list to try is another version of Vishu Kanji , Vishukatta etc. If time permits I will try that too.
I have tried ChakkaPpradhaman / Jackfruit pudding earlier, but it is made with jackfruit preserve/ chakka varati. However this recipe uses fresh jackfruits also it has specialty of adding milk in coconut milk pasyasam. Yes when we make pradhaman, we don’t combine both milk and coconut milk usually. But this one is slightly different. I found this recipe in Vanitha magazine.

If you can grab some fresh jackfruit make sure to try this one delicious. Here comes the recipe.

Chakka payasam/Jackfruit pudding

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Chakka payasam/Jackfruit pudding

Delicious sweet pudding made with fresh jackfruit, coconut milk and milk.

Ingredients

10 pieces of Jackfruit (about 250g)
2 ½ cup water
½ cup Jaggery ( Increase to ¾ cup Jaggery if you like more sweetness)
¼ cup sabudana/sago
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup milk
3 tablespoon coconut pieces
14 whole cashews
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
2 cardamoms
1 tablespoon ghee

Instructions

Melt jaggery in 1 cup water and strain for impurities and set aside.

Soak sago pearls for 2 hours and

cook with ½ cup water until it become translucent and wash it in the running water for few times and set aside.

Grind the jackfruit into fine puree.

In a thick bottomed pan add pureed jackfruit, cooked sago pearls and strained jaggery water and cook for about 15 minutes.

To this add ½ cup of coconut milk + 1 cup of water ( Randam pal) and cook until it reduce in volume.

Once it is reduced a bit, add ½ cup thick coconut milk and bring it to boil, to this add cardamom powder and cumin powder.

Then finally add milk and bring to boil.
In the mean time, heat 1 tablespoon ghee and fry coconut pieces and cashew nuts until it become golden brown.

Once it is done add entire coconut pieces, cashew nuts along with ghee into the payasam.
Enjoy as much you want.

Notes

Cream of asparagus and spinach soup

Apr 8, 2015 · 16 Comments

Delicious cream of asparagus and spinach creamy soup with full of green spring vegetables

The spring is here and it is time to tend to our gardens. We started fix our garden this weekend, by cutting off all the weeds, and renewing the vegetable bed with fresh garden soil. We put seeds in vegetable beds and some seeds of flowering plants in pots. Now our wait begins, last year few vegetables didn’t want to grow. We will see how it goes this year. In the rest of the yard there not much space left, as it has curry leaves plant, orange, lemon, neem and oleander trees. Gardening is indeed lots of work, but satisfying when you see the trees bloom. Last week shopping I bought a bunch of asparagus from Wal-Mart, and decided to try this delicious cream of asparagus and spinach soup.

I have tried stir-fry with asparagus earlier. And I have seen recipes of spicy pickled asparagus, but did not want to try the pickles as I have not been successful with putting together a good pickle. So next in line was to try either soup or oven roasted asparagus. Then I thought if it is soup, my hubby will love it, so decided to try it. I want to make it little healthier so added a bunch of spinach also. I used heavy cream and butter sauté if you want you can make it vegan by substituting with coconut oil and coconut milk.

I have mentioned the health benefits of Asparagus in this post. If you have bunch of asparagus and spinach try this one. If you don’t want to add spinach you can add green peas. That makes soup delicious too.
Indeed fun to welcome spring with bright green color soup. Here is my recipe of cream of asparagus and spinach soup.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Cream of asparagus and spinach soup

Delicious creamy soup with spring vegetables

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Total Time35

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: asparagus recipes, Cream of asparagus and spincach soup, soup recipes

Servings: serving

Calories: 287kcal

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus chopped and cut it into pieces, remove the thick ends at the bottom
Half of one onion
1 cup chopped spinach
1 inch ginger
1 tablespoon butter/olive oil
½ cup heavy cream
3 cups of homemade vegetable stock
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Instructions

In a sauce pot heat butter and add chopped onion
and fry until it becomes translucent.
To this add chopped asparagus ( make sure to remove the thick bottom part, set aside few tips for garnishing the soup) and
sauté for about 4 minutes to this add chopped spinach and ginger piece and sauté for 3 minutes.
Then add vegetable stock, salt and cook for about 10 minutes or until asparagus become soft and tender.
When it is cold enough touch using immersion blender or blender grind them into fine puree. If you want you can strain and remove any thick pieces.
Bring back the soup to heat and add pepper and heavy cream and bring it to rolling boiling.
Blanch the set aside tips of asparagus for 3 minutes in boiled water. Drain and garnish the soup with it.

Notes

This recipe is inspired from this

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Pin it for later

Greek Easter cookies (Koulourakia)

Apr 5, 2015 · 15 Comments

Delicious traditional greek Easter butter sugar cookies made with touch of vanilla and orange zest. Excellent treat with cup of coffee.

Easter is around the corner, and usually I bake bread for Easter, and this time also I made some bread and will post it soon. When I searched for Easter cookies in Google I thought I am going to see only sugar cookies painted with bunnies and eggs. But I was wrong, I found this Greek Easter cookies (Koulourakia). I was attracted to this recipe because of its unique twisted shape. Basically it is a sugar-butter cookie with touch of orange zest, and vanilla extract. Finally I decide to try it for myself.

Koulourakia is a traditional dessert cookie eaten on Easter Sunday in Greece. It has butter cookie base and an egg wash; if you want you can sprinkle some sesame seeds. The cookies are usually hand-shaped into rings, braids, or like the one I made, “twisted snake”. The snake is most often seen used by the Minoans, since they believed that snakes have healing powers.

For the Greeks, one of the most important festivals is Easter, and they celebrate it a bit differently. It is based on the Julian calendar and it must be after Passover. It is always held on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

I tried to make Greek Easter bread with red dyed eggs two times. However both the times, bread lost its shape after baking. It was a beauty before baking and came out of the oven like some gigantic creature. I was very disappointed at my failure both the times, and told my hubby that I am frustrated. He told me to try again. But I really did not have the will power to try it again knowing all the amount of work it takes and again not knowing if my changes will work. So I will wait for another Easter to give this bread another try.

My daughter is now fond of Easter eggs she wants to hunt Easter Eggs along with Anna, Elsa and Olaf from Frozen in our backyard. I can bring Easter eggs, but from where I will bring all the Frozen team. While I was growing up there was no Easter eggs only a holiday that was very important for me and my sister.

Coming to Greek Easter cookies (Koulourakia) recipe, I found most of the Greek sites and YouTube video’s gives the recipe to make 1000 of cookies with which we can feed a bunch of people. Since it is butter- sugar cookie, which I was also trying for the first time; I wanted to make only a few. Also in the traditional cookies, baking ammonia is used as they tend to make cookies more crispy and airy. I didn't have it my hand, so instead used baking powder.

I first made the cookie dough and chilled the dough for about 30 minutes in refrigerator. That tends to retain the shape a little better. I baked it for about 20-22 minutes or until side’s starts to brown.

These cute crunchy cookies go well with coffee or tea, and worth a try.

Print Recipe

5 from 6 votes

Greek Easter cookies (Koulourakia)

Delicious traditional Greek Easter butter cookies with touch of vanilla and orange zest.

Prep Time30

Cook Time22

Total Time52

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Greek

Keyword: Greeek Easter Cookies, Greek recipes, Koulourakia

Servings: nos

Calories: 123kcal

Ingredients

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 ⅓ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Zest of one orange
pinch of salt
Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit .
Prepare a sheet pan with a silpat or parchment paper.
In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the vanilla and eggs, orange zest and beat until everything get blend well.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar-egg mixture.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand a few minutes until you have smooth dough.
Chill the dough for about 30 minutes in refrigerator.
Break off pieces (about a rounded tablespoon)
Roll it into a thin rope of about 8 inch long.
Bring the two ends together like this.
Twist the two ends together
Place it on the sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
When you have shaped all of the cookies, then beat the egg wash and lightly brush the tops of the cookies.
Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 20-22 minutes.
Let them cool on a rack for 10 minutes. And store it in airtight container.

Notes

Recipe adapted from here

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Immune boosting smoothie with berries and ginger: Diabetic friendly

Mar 31, 2015 · 17 Comments

Delicious immune boosting smoothie with berries and ginger, diabetic friendly without any added sugar. Ginger adds zing to it.

Monday mornings are usually a bit crazy as little one needs to goes to school after the weekend and it is really hard to get both of them wake up in time. Once they wake up, next thing is to get them to brush their teeth and get ready for school. Poor kids, both of them have cold and runny nose resulting in more craziness.

In the meantime I rarely get the time to make a good breakfast, may be slice of bread with peanut butter or a juice. Today I decided to make this immune boosting smoothie with berries and ginger as I am in need of little more immunity, so that it will reduce the inflammation of joints a little bit.

For this immune boosting smoothie, I used blueberries. Do you know blueberries, are an Antioxidant Superfood filled with antioxidants and phytoflavinoids, these berries are also high in potassium and vitamin C, making them the top choice of doctors and nutritionists. It is known to lower the risk of heart disease and cancer, they are also anti-inflammatory.

If you want to know more about super foods, read from here. I also added strawberries, green apple, green grapes and ginger. Strawberries, not only juicy, summery and delicious are a bona fide superfood, too. Nutrient-rich and packed with antioxidants (like vitamin C), it is known to boost immunity, improves eye health, reduce inflammation, increase fiber and prevents wrinkles etc.

My daughter loves green apple than red ones, so it is a must in fruit basket, so added that one too, I have mentioned the health benefits of green apple and ginger in this post. Ginger adds zing to the smoothie. Hubby bought some fresh sweet seedless grapes during the grocery shopping, so decided to add that too.

When I read about the health benefits of green grapes I was amazed. Green grapes contain vitamins C and K. Vitamin C plays an important role in preventing infection and also promotes the health of bones, teeth, gums and blood vessels.

It also acts as an antioxidant to protect your body from the damage caused by free radicals, compounds that might increase the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.

At first I thought of adding some sweetener, but when I made the smoothie and taste tested. I didn’t felt any need of adding any sweetener. This smoothie is diabetic friendly, which my hubby can also enjoy. If you want you can add sweetener of your choice. Give it try it is refreshing also healthy.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Immune boosting smoothie with berries and ginger: Diabetic friendly

Delicious healthy immune boosting smoothie with berries and ginger goes well as great breakfast on the go.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Breakfast, Drinks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Immune boosting smoothie

Servings:

Calories: 167kcal

Ingredients

¼ cup blueberries
5 strawberries
1 green apple
¼ cup grapes
1 inch ginger piece reduce if you don't like too zing in your juice
1 ½ cup water

Instructions

Wash and hull the strawberries, core the apple and cut into pieces.
Add blueberries, strawberries, cored apple pieces, grapes,ginger into a blender or juicer and blend well along with water.
Strain for any seeds and enjoy with or without sweetener.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Devil‘s food cake with Chocolate Ganache frosting

Mar 28, 2015 · 13 Comments

Spring is in the air, I can see flowers blooming along the road side. In Texas, during spring you can see the sighting of wildflower’s blooming. Especially those bluebonnets, they are just beauty. If I see them I will show you the pictures of it for sure. My princess has been asking for a chocolate cake for long time, since my hands were paining I could not do it. Finally with the pain down to manageable level, I decide to try the Devil‘s food cake with chocolate ganache forsting.
I had borrowed book “Dessert Fourplay "by Johnny Luzzini from the library. It has lot of very nice recipes, but each of these recipes is complicated with several components made separately. At this time I don’t have the luxury to make a dish with all components at a stretch, so tried only Devil’s food cake. This cake also has mayonnaise as one of the components, and according to Johnny, it makes the cake soft. Yes it is really soft. Also I like that after cutting it will retain its shape. This cake can make a great birthday cake; if you want a layer cake you can do that too. The cake is not that sweet.

I have seen old style chocolate cake with mayonnaise, and want to try that. During "World War II" or "Depression-Era” food was scarce, so home cooks tried to cook with what they have it in hand. This Mayo –chocolate cake may have originated at that time. Mayo and chocolate goes well, I was not convinced about this combination that until I made this cake. This cake has super moist crumb and doesn’t require any butter; only need some extra eggs. There are different variations of mayonnaise, use one with oil, eggs and vinegar. Earlier I had made chocolate cake with sour cream, and this cake is also delicious. If you want to make layered chocolate cake, may be double the amount so that you can make two 9 inch cake. Normally in a chocolate cake we add cocoa powder in hot water to bloom first. But for this cake you don’t need to do that step.

Even though you might hate using mayonnaise, give it a try and when you bite into this cake, you won’t realize there is any mayonnaise in it. Marriage between mayonnaise and chocolate is so perfect that it is hard to separate them. One thing you have to keep in mind is not to use strong flavored mayonnaise.
For Ganache frosting I used recipe from David Lebovitz site.

Here is the recipe of devil's food cake with chocolate ganache frosting. Give it a try you will love it.

Devil‘s Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 48 minutes

Yield: 1 9 inch and 1 4 inch loaf

Devil‘s Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Delicious and moist chocolate cake with rich chocolate ganache frosting, ultimate chocolate lovers dream.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (187g) flour, sifted
¾ tsp. (4g) baking soda
¼ tsp. (1g) baking powder
1 cup+ 2 tablespoon (225g) sugar
1 teaspoon (2g) vanilla extract
2 eggs
¾ cup (160g) mayonnaise
½ cup ( 50g) Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder, sifted
½ tsp. (2g) table salt
¾ cup (180g) water

For chocolate ganache frosting

5 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
¼+1/8 cup (¾stick) unsalted butter

Instructions

Heat the oven to 375F, Line a 9 inch round pan and 4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a standing mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment add eggs and beat at medium high speed.

Adding sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and mayonnaise and beat to combine.

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.

Using a a rubber spatuaa, fold and stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in batches,
alternating with the water and beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Scrape the batter into a pan and spread it out evenly.

Give the pan a tap or two on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until a tester comes out clean about 18 minutes. Rotating the pan halfway through baking . Let cool.
Run a knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake before turning it out.

To make the frosting,

Melt the chopped chocolate , butter and the cream in a microwave heatproof bowl heat for 1 minutes at two 30 seconds intervals.

After each 30 seconds remove the bowl from the microwave and mix very well,

the ganache is smooth. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature or refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Frost the cake

After removing the cake from the pan, tilt the cake and remove parchment paper and transfer to cake stand. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top.

And sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you can.

Notes

The Devils food cake is adapted from Dessert Fourplay and Chocolate ganache frosting is adapted fromDavid Lebovitz
Copyright ©2015 Zesty South Indian Kitchen by Swathi(Ambujom Saraswathy) All Rights Reserved.

Peechinga curry/ Ridge gourd Curry

Mar 24, 2015 · 28 Comments

Delicious Peechinga curry/ Ridge gourd Curryslightly sweet and spicy curry goes well with bowl of rice.

As I mentioned earlier, due to swelling in my hand and fingers along with pain, I went to a Rheumatology specialist. She suspect I am in beginning stage of Rheumatic Arthritis (RA), even though the first test done by family physician turned out to be negative. She prescribed for another set of blood work. Now I am in high dose of corticosteroids. Pain has comes down a lot, still have it. It is really daunting to hearing about RA. While reading I got a shock treatment already. My hubby still thinks I don’t have it and I hope he is right. I will not lose hope until the results comeback. My RA doctor told me as I am Indian, and use lot of spices, lentils in cooking I don’t need to change diet. Still needs to add extra dose of veggies, spices, beans which boost my immune system and can help to reduce inflammation. After coming back from the Dr. appointment, I made this Peechinga/ Ridge gourd curry for our dinner.

What is Ridge Gourd?

This Ribbed gourd, Ridge gourd, Luffa acutangula, Tori , peechinga is common vegetable used in India. The young fruit is about 2 feet which is dark green in color is used as vegetable, where as the mature ones are used as bath sponge. In ayurveda, this plants helps to reduce vitiated vata dosha(swelling or distention of the abdomen, rumbling sound of the intestines. ), pitta dosha, skin diseases, jaundice, splenomegaly, hemorrhoids, and general weakness. I believe in Ayurveda (natural medicine) as I am from the land where it is still practiced. Now with this pain I am turning more into it as I am afraid of side effect from the medication. I know for an immediate relief I have to stick to medicines prescribed by the doctors.

How to make Ridge Gourd Curry ?

First you need to peel the skin .Always use fresh Ridge gourd. You can make spicy curry with ridge gourd, as the ridge gourd makes the final curry little sweet. I like to add tomato, onion and ginger garlic along with spices. This curry goes well with any bread of your choice. It is easy to make give it a try. Here comes the recipe.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Peechinga curry/ Ridge gourd Curry

Delicious slightly sweet and spicy curry goes well with bowl of rice.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: #curry, Peechinga curry, Ridgegourdcurry

Servings: serving

Calories: 73kcal

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon mustard
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
¾ teaspoon of salt or to taste
1 green chili
2 cloves of garlic
1 inch ginger
3 to mato
¾ cup chopped onion
1 large Ridge gourd/ Peechinga about 3 cup chopped when it is cut it into 2 inch cubes
½ teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon curry masala
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ cup water

Instructions

First peel the skin of ridge gourd and cut it into 2 inch cubes and set aside.
In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds, fennel seeds and cumin seeds.
When mustard seeds starts pops add chopped onion and green chili and fry for about 6 minutes or until onion become translucent.
Then add ginger-garlic paste and fry for 1-2 minutes.
To this add spices and
then add chopped tomato and fry until it become mushy.
To this add chopped ridge gourd/ peechinga, salt and water cook until gravy thickens.
Switch of the flame and enjoy with rice or roti or bread of your choice.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Orange blossom water Brioche

Mar 18, 2015 · 28 Comments

Nowadays life has become painful quite literally, as I am having muscle pain in my hands for about 3 weeks. I went to doctor and he prescribed some medications, as an obedient patient I took the medicine, ended up getting really bad side effects, yes edema, swelling in hands and fingers. Yesterday I called the nurse line and was instructed to keep ice pack to reduce the swelling. The swelling is down a little bit, still my two fingers are swollen; driving car is really difficult still I need to drive so that I can drop my kids to school. Also I need to post for this month’s baking partner challenge. As usual I am late this month too. This month Baking Partner challenge was to make orange blossom water brioche.

This recipe is adapted from famous pastry chef Dominique Ansel’s The secret recipes book. Actually I was planning to suggest magic soufflé from the book. Orange blossom water brioche was the base of that recipe and chocolate soufflé is inside. I got excited after seeing the recipe, and also tried magic soufflé, but ended up making chocolate lava. May be the reason for the failure is the absence of pastry rings which chef Dominique Ansel has suggested. When I made chocolate soufflé the lava erupted, and I thought that was the end of the lava eruption. No I was wrong, when covered with brioche dough again lava erupted making the volcano fall in my oven. I was so disappointed that I couldn’t bring myself to try again. May be when I recover from this shock and try to figure out a way out of it, I am going to conquer the magic soufflé for sure.

Coming to orange blossom water brioche, brioche, is a pastry of French origin that is similar to a highly enriched bread, and whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. It is "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs." It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, resulted from egg wash. For this orange blossom water brioche, recipe asked for orange oil, which I don’t have it in my hand, so I used orange extract, you can skip that if you don’t have it. But make sure to add lots of orange zest and orange blossom water. If you don’t have access to orange blossom water, you can use rose water. Then you have to change the name to rose water brioche. Also don’t make adjustment with egg or butter then it won’t be brioche. It is delicious; my kids finished the brioche within a day.

I thought I will get some few leftovers to make bread pudding but never got it. May be next time I will increase the amount? It is really easy recipe you need to make the dough day before and bake it next day. You can also use muffin tin or bundt pan to make fun shape. I used mini bundt pan to make it. Give it a try, you will love it.
If you want bake with us next month please join us by just shooting an e-mail. Here comes the recipe.

Orange blossom water Brioche

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 15

Orange blossom water Brioche

Delicious orange scented brioche rolls great for any breakfast.

Ingredients

2 cups/ 280g Bread flour *( if you don’t have bread flour, For each cup of bread flour required, put 1 teaspoon of vital wheat gluten into the cup and fill the remainder with all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup/ 51 g Granulated sugar
2 ¼ teaspoon of instant yeast ( if you have SAF gold, osmotolerant yeast then use 2 teaspoon)
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon/15g whole milk
11 tablespoon/153 g unsalted cold butter small dice
¼ teaspoon Orange extract (if you have in hand, otherwise leave it)
1 teaspoon /5g orange blossom water ( if you don’t have it in your hand use rose water, then change the name to rose water brioche)
Non stick spray or oil as needed for greasing
All purpose flour or maida for dusting

Instructions

In a bowl, combine the bread flour, salt, sugar, yeast and eggs and mix well using hand or if using kitchen aid stand mixer use dough hook.

Mix everything until combined, knead well so that it develop gluten may be 10 -15 minutes. When it develop gluten the dough will leave the sides and it will pass the window pane test. ( when you pull a piece of dough you can extend the dough without breaking it, also you can make a see through sheet that is called window pane test).

Then add cold diced butter, and mix again until all the butter is incorporated well.

Then add orange extract, orange zest, orange blossom water and mix until everything is fully incorporated. The finished dough should be smooth, shiny and sticky.

Lightly grease a medium bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly on to the surface of the dough to prevent a skin from forming.

Proof the dough at room temperature for doubled in size. It will take about 1 ½ hours.

Remove the plastic warp and punch down the dough by folding. Cover the dough again with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface. Refrigerate overnight to relax the gluten.
Next day
When you are ready to bake, transfer the dough to lightly floured area and divide the dough into small pieces

and shape it into balls/rolls or any shape you want.
If you using muffin tin grease them well and transfer the shaped balls,

set aside for 45 minutes or 1 hour until the rolls puffed up well. While the shaped rolls are proofing preheat oven to 400 F/205C.

After 1 hour, brush the brioche rolls with egg wash and bake them for 10 minutes or until they become golden brown in color.
Leave the brioche for 5 minutes in the pan and carefully remove them and enjoy as much you want. Brush them with little jam or nutella it is so delicious.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from here

Loading InLinkz ...

Multigrain Blueberry Pancakes

Mar 13, 2015 · 16 Comments

Delicious multigrain blueberry pancakes made with whole grain flours, buttermilk and egg with fresh blueberries, great to start a day

In my house full-fledged breakfast happens only on weekends, rest of days, something like slice of whole wheat bread, oatmeal or cornflakes. I make elaborate breakfast on weekends, mostly south Indian dishes; nowadays my princess is in love with pancakes, and she wants pancakes and sauce (maple syrup) for her breakfast.

Previously I had made sweet potato pancakes which she loved, so when she asked for a blueberry pancake, I made this multigrain blueberry pancake.

This great recipe is from the book “A good food day” by Macro Canora. Author Macro is a professional chef who turned a new leaf of cooking healthy ingredients once he developed pre diabetic diagnosis.

The book is really simple with lot of information and nice photography. It starts with personnel story of the author followed by 10 principles of good food day and pantry staples then myth about saturated fat like butter cheese etc.

Ingredients to make this multigrain blueberry pancakes

You need following ingredients

There three different flours are used in this recipe.

Flours : Whole wheat flour, Buckwheat flour and corn flour

Leaveners: Baking soda and baking powder

Salt

Wet ingredients include buttermilk, whole milk

Egg

Coconut oil

Butter for the pan.

Fresh blueberries you can also use frozen blueberries too.

Instructions to make this multigrain blueberry pancakes

First mix flours with salt and leavening agents

Then add milk and buttermilk and egg and coconut oil

While cooking incorporate the blueberries

When the batter is ready cook it in heated pan or skillet.

using butter for greasing the pan.

Cook and enjoy

How to make this multigrain blueberry pancake?

I tried Blueberry and buckwheat buttermilk pan cakes from the book. It is delicious; my hubby told me you need an acquired taste to like it.

Yes it has multigrain flour in it such as buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour and corn flour, instead of frozen blueberries suggested in the recipe I used fresh blueberries.

It has both buttermilk and milk along with eggs. My daughter enjoyed with heavy dose of maple syrup, where her dad eat with little maple syrup.

I think this pancake is really filling one so if you have only 2 adults, then half or ¾th the recipe is enough. Maximum pancakes you can eat are about 2-3.

Variation ot this Multigrain blueberry pancakes

Multigrain blueberry pancakes are a delicious and nutritious twist on traditional pancakes. These pancakes are made using a combination of different types of grains, such as whole wheat flour, oats, and other whole grains, to increase their fiber and nutrient content.

The addition of blueberries not only adds a burst of flavor but also contributes antioxidants and vitamins.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Multigrain Blueberry Pancakes

Delicious multigrain blueberry pancake great for start of a day.

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #pancakes

Servings: pieces

Calories: 182kcal

Ingredients

2 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup buckwheat flour
½ cup corn flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups buttermilk
¼ cup whole milk
1 extra large egg
¼ cup virgin coconut oil
Unsalted butter for the pan
¾ cup fresh blueberries you can use frozen blueberries if you don’t have fresh in hand
Maple syrup for serving

Instructions

In a large bowl, stir together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk and egg, then finally whisk in coconut oil.
Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.
Batter is thick with lumps that is okay
Heat a skillet over high heat and add small amount of butter. When the butter melts becomes brown add ¼ cup of the pancake batter.
While the bottom part is cooking stick in blueberries on the top part.
Once the bottom side is cooked for about 1to 2 minutes or until sides becomes crisp.
. Filip the other side and cook for another 1 ½ minutes.
Transfer the pancake to the plate and cover it to keep warm. Repeat the process until you finished the entire batter. Serve the pancakes warm with maple syrup.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from A good Food Day

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!