White and Wild Rice Pilaf

Thanksgiving Meal

Ingredients:
Safeway wild rice - 1 packet
Bay leaf - 1
Cloves - 3
Cumin seeds - 1tspn
Onions - 1 large
Green chillies - 3
Vegetables - Bokchoy, Capsicum, Carrot
Almonds - 3 tspn slivered
Pepper - curshed ,1 tspn
Ghee - 2 tspn
oil - 1 tspn while boiling rice



Boil water in a vessel and add bay leaf,jeera ,a pinch of salt. Add wild rice, a tspn of oil to it and cook.

Take another pan: Fry onions,green chillies and add chopped vegetables to that.Add salt and stir for a while and sprinkle water and cover with the lid and cook in low flame until crisp-tender.

Mix this into the boiled rice and add enough salt ,pepper ,crushed cloves,sliverd almonds and toss well.

Remove from fire.Ready to serve.

Apple Cranberry Pie

Thanksgiving Meal

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3 cups,sifted
Sugar - 1/2 tspn
a pinch of salt
Unsalted butter - 1 stick
Ice water - 5 to 6 tbspn
Take a large bowl and add salt ,suagr to the sifted flour.
Cut 1 stick of butter into slices and add to the flour and mix by using fingers.Mix together into coarse crumbs.Drizzle the ice water and make the dough into a smooth ball and make it into a disk.Wrap it in a plastic wrap and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove tHe pie dough and divide into 2 parts for the upper and lower crust. Sprinkle flour on the surface and roll the dough into a circle of 1/8 inch thickness.Place the pastry carefully on a pie
pan.Cover with plastic wrap and keep in fridge.Roll the rest of the dough into another 1/8 inch thick circle for upper crust.To make a Lattice :Cut the rolled dough into strips with pizza cutter and weave the strips by placing alternately.See here for how to weave lattice pie top .
See this Peach pie.
Pie filling:
Granny smith apples - 4 no,washed ,peeled and cut into slices
Fresh cranberry - 1/2 cup,washed
Corn starch - 4 tbspn
Lemon juice - 2 tspn
Cinnamon - 1 tbspn
Jaggery - 2 tspn, grated
Sugar - 3/4 th cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tspn
Salt - 1/4 tspn

Egg wash:
Egg yolk - 1
Water - 3tbspn
Optional / Use Milk instead of egg yolk.
Filling:
Mix sliced apples along with lemon juice. Take Sugar into an another bowl and add ground cinnamon,salt,corn strach,jaggery,fresh cranberries and mix well.
Add sliced apples to this and fill the pie pan by layering apples evenly.


Preheat the oven to 400
Place the lattice top carefully and crimp the edges.After crimping I made little flowers by using cookie cutter with the extra dough and placed it on the top of the lattice pie crust.Brush the lattice top lightly with the beaten egg.Cover the rim with aluminium foil to prevent the edges of pie from browning.
Note: Sprinkle granulaed sugar on the top.But i missed this step.
Bake at 375 for 1 hr 15 minutes .Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.Cut and serve with a scoop of icecream.




Recipe source:Martha stewart,Emeril Lagasse

Cranberry Pecan Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Cake mix - 2 cups
Vegetable oil - ½ cup
Whole milk - ½ cup
Vanilla extract - ½ tspn
Egg whites - 2
Fresh Cranberries - ½ cup washed and curshed
Pecans - ½ cup toasted and crushed
Orange zest - 3 tspn
Method:
Take a large bowl add Whisked egg whites,Vanilla extract,milk,vegetable oil and beat until fluffy .Add crushed cranberries, crushed pecan,orange zest to this.Now add the mix to the egg whites and beat for a cake batter consistency. Pre heat oven to 350°F
Fill the muffin tray with paper baking liners.Place a tspn of into the bottom of each paper cups and add peacan ,cranberries above to that and fill with the batter upto ¾th in each .Top with the rest of the cranberries and pecan pieces..Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.Insert a tooth pick in the center of the cupcake.If it comes out clean then transfer the tray to the wire rack and allow cupcakes to cool.
If you like, fill with your favourite frosting.
This is my entry for the event cupcake-hero-november hosting by the hostess Laurie of quirky cupcake.

Kandipappu Beans koora

Ingredients:
Toor dal/Kandi pappu - 1 cup
Beans - 25 no,steamed
Onion - 1,medium size,chopped
Red chilli pwd - 1/2 tspn
Dhaniya pwd - 1/2 tspn
Turmeric pwd - pinch
Salt to taste
For seasoning:
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1/2tspn
Red chillies - 2 no
Curry leaves - 3 or 4 no
Oil - 1 tspn




Method:
Cook Toor dal in pressure cooker with less water.Dal should not and not be mushy.Steam the chopped beans too.Heat the pan by adding 1 tspn of oil fry urad dal,jeera,red chillies,curry leaves.Immediately ,add steamed beans to it anad stir well.Add salt ,red chilli pwd,dhaniya pwd and fry for 1 minute.Now add cooked Toor dal and mix well.Cover with lid and cook for another 2 minutes in medium heat.
Serve with a cup of hot rice by drizzling with a 1/2 tspn of ghee.



Recipe Source:Amma
Kandi pappu beans koora (curry)

This is my entry for the event "Jihva" for Toor dal hosting by Dear Linda of outofthegarden

JFI for festive series

Onde onde : Malaysian and Indonesian Dish
Ingredients:Sweet Potato -1 no boiled,Glutinous rice flour -2 cups,grated coconut - 2 cups,Enough Water to make dough
Stuffing: Jaggery - 1 cup,Pista - Walnuts - 3 tspn ,crushed

Cook and peel of the skin before mashing sweet potatoes.
Break the jaggery (gula Melaka )into small pieces.
Sieve glutinous rice flour into a large bowl and add mashed sweet potatoes and sprinkle 1 spoon of water.One can add food color to this dough. Original recipe (Authentic Onde Onde)says to use pandan juice and green color but i substituted with little bit of water.Mix well and knead into a dough.Make dough into small balls.Flatten each ball and fill with a 1/4 th spoon of gur and nuts mixture.Roll again to make it into a ball .Boil water in a large vessel , add the dough balls one by one.Make sure the balls doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel.Cook in medium heat.Take out the ballS with a perforated laddle when they float to the surface of the water.Place on a plate of grated coconut.Roll the cooked balls over the coconut.Serve warm!!
Recipe Source:Onde Onde



Janthikalu/Muruku:
Rice flour - 3 cups
Urad dal flour -1 cup
Til seeds/nuvvulu - 1 tbspn.
Jeera -1 tbspn
Chilli powder -2 tsp.
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp.
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Oil as required
Salt to taste

Mix rice flour, urad dal flour,ghee, cumin seeds,sesame seeds and salt and form a dough.Put the dough in a murukku mould and Press the handle to make a 3 to 4 concentric circles for one muruku on a wax paper.Do the same way with the whole dough.Leave it for 15 minutes.Mean while heat sufficient oil in a kadai for deep frying.Deep-fry the spirals until golden brown color on both sides.Once cool keep in air tight jars.
Mal pua:
Maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 tspn
Baking soda - pinch
Sufficient Water to make thick batter
Oil for frying
Sugar Syrup:
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Garnishing:
Ground cardamom - 1 TSPN
Saffron strands - 2
Sunflower seeds
Almond flakes
Pistachio crushed
Sugar syrup:
Put sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes till thick syrup is formed.
Method :
Sift Maida,Add sugar,baking soda and water to form smooth, medium thickness batter and keep aside for 30 min to set. Heat oil in a shallow flat bottomed pan.Deep fry one table spoonful of batter at a time into the oil.The batter spreads to make malpuas.Fry mal puas to golden brown color for both sides.Remove from kadai and place on a paper towel to remove excess oil.Dip mal puas in the sugar syrup.Take out from the syrup and garnish with almonds flakes, pista,sunflower seeds,saffron strands,sprinkle ground cardamom seeds before serving.Serve warm or cool!!!

HAPPY DEEPAVALI!!

"Wish you all Shubha Deepavali"