Puffed Wheat Balls (Laddu)

I came across these puffed wheat when i was shopping at near by grocery store.Reached house and tasted the puffed wheat.Puffed wheat is really good for making ladoo and mixture.Love the shape and nutty wheat taste.Since my childhood I am seeing my mom and grand mom making puffed rice mixture,puffed rice (plain,tamarind) upma,puffed rice balls aka borugundalu .We used to have this Crunchy one at evening times as after-school munchies.borugundalu.We used to have this Crunchy one at evening times as after-school munchies.Yum Yum.... So,I tried with puffed wheat and we liked these laddus too.

Ingredients:
Puffed Wheat - 3 cups
Jaggery - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Honey - ½ tspn
Ground nuts / Peanuts - ½ cup
Cashew nuts - 6 or 7 no,chopped
Sesame seeds - ½ cup
Raisins - ¼th cup
Black Cardamom - 2 no,crushed


How I made:
Roast sesame seeds in a pan until they start splutter.Roast the peanuts for golden brown color.Roast raisins in low flame until they double.Grind 2 spoons of sesame seeds and 1 tspn of pea nuts to coarse powder from original quantity.
Take a large sauce pan and add jaggery and water.Make thick syrup in low flame.Add a drop of jaggery syrup into a bowl of water to check the string consistency.Drop should solidify immediately.Remove from fire and add puffed wheat,raisins,cashew nut pieces,pea nuts,sesame-pea nut pwd,cardamom pwd,honey and mix well to coat jaggery syrup evenly.While still warm,shape the syrup-coated puffed wheat into round laddus.Allow to cool and keep open to dry, before storing in containers.
Note:Wet palm while shaping laddus to prevent burning.
See here for Puffed Wheat Snack

Thai Coconut Soup

Today weather is gloomy and wet.So, its time for some soup.Once we tried thai coconut soup from Thai restaurant named Aruneehouse , which is few blocks away from our place.Their coconut soup was excellent with galangal,lemongrass,lime and mushrooms.We really enjoyed their delicacies.Here goes my thai coconut milk soup (original recipe name is tom kha gai )
Ingredients:
Coconut milk - 1 tin
Ginger root - 6,thinly sliced (original recipe calls for Galangal)
lemon grass stalks - 1
onion slices - 4 no
kaffir lime leaves - 4 no, torn into pieces
celery - ½ stalk, sliced thinly
cilantro - 2 sprigs
button mushrooms - 5 or 6 no,sliced
green chillies - 3 no,chopped
Dried red chillies - 2 no
Sugar - ¼ tspn
vegetable oil for frying
lime juice - 1 tbspn /lime - ½
Vegetable stock or Water - 1½ cup
Salt and pepper according to taste



How I made:
Heat oil in a large saucepan and add sliced onion,sliced lemon grass,sliced ginger,sliced celery ,chopped green chillies ,kafir lime leaves,and sauté, stirring, for 1 minute and uncovered.Add sliced mushrooms and sauté for a 1 minute.Add coconut milk,lemon zest to the pan and bring it to boil.Bring soup to simmer and cook for 7 to 10 minutes in low flame.Add salt,pepper and lime juice according to taste.Garnish with cilantro leaves.

I felt this soup can be taken without any croutons so iam participating in
Lisa of Lisa kitchen's no-croutons-required event.

Birthday Cake

Cake for a birthday is always special for me.Dad used to bring cake for us on our birthdays.Sometimes mom used to make and decorate with icing.
This year for a change I baked a cake for my birthday though it is simple but homemade.Being a chocoholic I glazed cake with chocolate ganache.
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3 cups
Sugar - ¾ cup
Eggs - 2 no
Vegetable oil - ¾ cup
Baking powder - 1 tspn
Dried golden raisins - ½ cup
Dried cranberries - ½ cup
Vanilla paste - ½ tspn
Water - ½ cup
Butter for applying


How I made:
Pre heat oven to 350°
Butter the cake pan and lay parchement paper on it.Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy.Add oil,vanilla paste and whisk until mixed.Add sifted flour ,raisins,cranberries in batches and mix at low speed until combined evenly.Pour the batter into the cake pan and place in the middle rack of the oven.Bake for 30 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean in the center of the cake.Remove from the oven and cool it for 30 minutes.Transfer the cake to the cooling rack.Remove parchement paper and allow it to cool for another ½ hr.
Making Chocolate ganache:
Heavy cream - 2 cups
Cocoa powder - 1tbspn
Bitter sweet chocolate - 8oz,Lindt

Melt chocolate in a double boiler and add heavy cream ,cocoa pwd to it.Whisk until smooth.
Glazing cake:
Use serrated knife to slice the top layer of the cake slowly.Pour the chocolate ganache on it and spread evenly on top and sides of the cake with spatula.
Dust with powdered sugar or decorate with fruits like strawberry,raspberry,orange.I used banana.Refrigerate the cake to set the ganache for 30 to 45 minutes.
Thought of making plain one but ended with a simple goodlooking cake.

Turnip Pickle

Ingredients:
Turnip - 1 no, small in size ,peeled and chopped into ½ " size pieces
Fenugreek seeds - (Menthulu/Methi/Vendhiyam)- ½ tsp,
Mustard seeds - 2 tbspn
Cumin seeds - 2 tspn
Red Chilly pwd - 5 tspn
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
Ginger -1" size,chopped
Green Chillies - 5 no,slitted and soaked in salt and lemon juice for 15 days
Sesame oil(Nuvvula nune/Til oil)- 2cups
Salt to taste
Refined Oil for frying
How I Made:
Heat oil in a saucepan and fry turnip pieces until light golden brown colour.
Remove from fire and transfer to a dry mixing bowl.Fry ginger for a light golden brown colour.
Grind mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds,cumin seeds for a fine powder.
Add ground spice mixture ,red chilli powder,turmeric,salt ,soaked and dried green chillies,fried ginger to the fried turnip pieces.
Combine well with a wooden spatula until spice mixture coats turnip pieces evenly.Add sufficient sesame oil and mix well.Transfer to an earthenware and cover with a muslin cloth and leave for 2 weeks.Make sure to stir once in a week with dried wooden spatula.We liked the turnip pickle as a good condiment .It goes well with the hot rice or curd rice because of its spicy and tangy taste.

Cashewnut Doughnut

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 ½ cups, sifted
Butter - 4tbspn
Sugar - 1 cup
Yeast - 1 packet
warm water - 2tbspn
Milk - ½ cup
Ground nutmeg - ¼ tspn
Whole cashewnuts - 25 no,powdered in blender
Egg - 1 no
oil for frying
How I Made:
Bowl 1:Mix yeast with the warm water.Leave for 5 to 10 minutes until yeast foam and bubbles.
Bowl 2:Melt the butter in microwave.Do not overmelt but butter should be in dissolved stage.Add warm milk and mix well.
Bowl 3:Whisk the egg and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.Transfer the bowl 2 mixture and whisk.Add bowl 1 ingredients and combine well.
Bowl 4:Mix flour,nutmeg ,cashewnut powder by adding the bowl 3 ingredients with spoon.Knead into soft dough.Apply vegetable oil and cover with a cloth or airtight container and keep in
a warm place to rise for 2½ hours.
Sprinkle flour on a wooden board and roll the dough into a ½" thickness.Cut the dough with the heart shaped cookie cutter.Sprinkle flour on a parchment paper and place the doughnuts and cover them to rise for 30 minutes.Preheat the oil and drop one doughnut at a time and fry light golden color in medium flame.Turn and fry to get the same color.Strain the doughnuts on a paper towel.Roll the doughnuts into the regular sugar or confectionary sugar.Serve warm .



Chocolate glaze :
Butter - 2tbspn
Cocoa - 2tbspn
Hot Water - 3tbspn
Powdered sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla extract - ½ tspn
Melt butter in a pan in low heat.Add Cocoa and water.Stir with ladel until mixture is thick.Remove from fire and add powdered sugar,vanilla extract and stir well.

Dip doughnuts into chocolate glaze. Lay parchment paper under the wire rack and place coated chocolate doughnuts on wirerack.Coat with toasted nuts at this stage.optional)

Brandysnap baskets is one of the recipe which I got inspired by lovely Haalo.
Hazelnut doughnuts(Haalo's) came in my mind when i came to know about tartelette's Time to make doughnut event but I have shelled one so decided to do with cashewnuts.
Love the taste of cashewnutty doughnuts glazed with chocolate.Made sufganiyots filled with cran pom jam tasted great.
Here goes my CashewnuttyDoughnut Hearts to Time to make doughnuts event by Tartelette.

Green Garbanzo with Magda Squash

Ingredients:
Green Garbanzo/Hare chole - 2 cups
Magda Squash - 1 no,chopped
Onion (big) - 1 no,chopped
Tomatoes - 1 no ,chopped
Tomato paste - 1 tspn
Green chillies - 2 no,
Garlic - 3 no,crushed
Ginger - 1" size,chopped
Bay leaves - 2
Cloves - 4 no,crushed
Red chilli pwd - 1 tspn
Dhaniya pwd - 1 tspn
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt to taste
Milk - ½ cup
lemon juice - 2 tspn
Mint for garnishing
Oil for cooking
Water for cooking.



How I Made:
Heat Oil in a big sauce pan fry chopped garlic and crushed ginger in low flame
until raw smell leaves.Add bay leaves stir for a while and chopped onions,slitted green chillies and saute well.Add diced tomatoe ,salt,turmeric and cook in medium flame.Add chopped squash ,tomato paste,dhaniya pwd,red chilli pwd,crushed cloves and stir evenly.Sprinkle ½ cup of water and cook by covering with lid for 5 or 8 minutes.Add hare chole and stir to coat the spice mixture evenly.Sprinkle 4 tspn of water and cook in medium flame.Add milk to the pan and stir well to mix in the gravy and cook for 3 minutes in low flame.Adding milk gives the creamy texture to the gravy.Garnish with mint leaves and serve hot with chapathis.
Squeeze lemon juice according to taste at the time of serving.

Broccoli soup

I decided to make a hot soup for this cold weather.This is my first experience of making soup with Broccoli.Googled for some time and settled with low fat broccoli soup.



Ingredient:
Broccoli stems - 4 no
Onion - 1no,chopped
Garlic - 2 pods,crushed
Water - 2 cups
Milk - 2 cups
dried Rosemary - ½ tspn
salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying

Preperation:
Heat oil in a large pan.Add chopped garlic and onions.Fry in medium heat until softened.Add chopped broccoli stems and saute until broccoli is tender by adding sufficient water.Puree the mixture by adding a half tea spoon of dried rosemary in blender.Transfer the puree to the pan and stir milk in low flame.Add pepper and salt
according to the taste.Serve hot with crunchy cumin puff pastry sticks.

Hazelnut

This picture is my entry for the colorful event hosting by Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi .

Event details HERE

Turnip Tofu Gravy

Ingredients:
Turnip - 1 no,washed,peeled,chopped,pressure cooked with half a tspn of salt & sugar.
Tofu - 1 block of organic tofu
Onion - 1 no,chopped
Tomato - 1 no,medium size
Red chilli pwd -11/2 tspn
dhaniya pwd - 1 tspn
Turmeric - a pinch
garlic - 2 pods,crushed
ginger - 1/2 inch,grated
Bay leaf - 1 no
Golden raisins - 5 or 6 no
cloves - 4 no,crushed
Milk - 1/2 cup
Curd - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 tspn
Jaggery - 1 tspn
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Mint leaves for garnishing

Preperation:
Drain water from tofu and cut into desired shape.
Heat 2 tspn of oil and fry the tofu on both sides until crispy and golden color.Remove from pan and place on a paper towel.
Cook chopped turnips in a pressure cooker for 10 to 12 minutes.
Heat the pan with a tspn of oil .Add crushed ginger ,garlic and stir for a light brown color.Add bay leaf,chopped onions,golden raisins fry for 2 minutes.Add chopped tomatoes, raisinsdhaniya pwd,red chilli pwd,turmeric and stir well .Sprinkle 2 tspn of water and cover with lid and cook until tender.Add fried tofu pieces and cooked turnip pieces and stir well to combine with the gravy.
Add sufficient salt ,crushed cloves, milk, beaten curd , a sprig of mint leaves and stir well.Allow to cook for another 6 to 7 minutes in medium flame until gravy becomes thick.Remove from fire and garnish with mint leaves.
Turnip Tofu Gravy is ready to eat with chapathis or rotis.

See here for Turnip recipes from
Radhi
BEE,
Indira

Turnip Tofu Gravy is my entry for Grindless Gravies event hosted


by Dear Sra of whenmysoupcamealive .

Avocado Dryfruits Nuts Biscotti

Recently, I came acroos with the tv show led by giada de laurentiis(food network star) making wonderful biscotti for holidays.Inspired by Nicky of Delicious days "cantuccicantuccinibiscotti".Thank You Nicky!
Then i decided to make biscotti by adding Avocado(who stares at me always for not using in any recipe.).Biscotti tastes great along with sweet and nutty flavour of avocado and looks colorful with studded gemstones which resembles citrine for apricots,garnet for dates,emerald for pistachio,ruby for cranberries.

INDREDIENTS:
All purpose flour - 3 cups,sifted
LAND O LAKES® Butter - 1 stick
Avocado medium size - 1 no, ripe
Sugar - ¾ th cup
Vanilla extract - ½ tspn
Eggs - 2 no
Baking powder - 1tspn
Salt - ¼tspn
Cranberries - ½ cup
NUTS:
Toasted Pistachio nuts - 1½ cups
Toasted Pecans - ¾ th cup
Dried fruit:
Turkish Apricot - ¾th cup
Dates - 7 no,deseeded and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 ° F.In a small bowl add sifted flour,baking powder,salt and mix well.
Toast Pistachios,Pecans on a lined baking sheet for 5 to 8 minutes.Remove from oven and cool completely.
In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar, ripe avocado flesh,vanilla into light and fluffy.Add eggs, one at a time,until creamy.Add flour mixture and mix well.Stir in chopped turkish apricots,chopped dates,toasted nuts(Pecans,Pistachio).Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 parts.Shape each part into 9″ into 1½″ log.Place these logs on a lined baking sheet.Flatten the logs gently in this shape.

Bake for 30 minutes and check with toothpick.Transfer the logs on a wire rack and allow to cool for 25 minutes.Reduce the oven temperature to 275°F degrees.Place logs on a wooden board and cut diagonally with a knife to ½ ;thickness.Place the slices on lined baking sheet,cut side down.Bake 8 to 10 minutes until slightly brown at 300°F .Remove biscotti from the oven to wire racks.Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.Biscottis are ready to dunk in a hot cup of coffee.
Recipe Idea :My own experiment using " Avocado " in biscotti.



This is my entry to the event christmas cookies hosting by Dear Susan of Foodblogga.

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"

Halloween Ha ha ha.......

Happy Dasara

‘Bommala Koluvu’ during the ‘Navaratri’ days where the display of dolls of various gods and godesses will give the children to show interest on indian mythology.We grew up by performing this custom since my childhood.For me ,i feel this festival is filled with Lots of creativity.We used to sing devotional songs in the evenings infront of bommala koluvu.Neighberhood ladies are invited to take tamboolam which consists of Kumkum,Turmeric,Betel leaves with betel nuts,fruits,flowers and prasadam .My mom makes different kind of sundal, which is made out of pulses, and offer as prasadam to the God for 9 days.

Dasara celebrations at Sri Rajarajeswari Temple ,Nellore ,Andhra Pradesh
Photos courtesy : nelloremail

This is my entry to JFS Festive series hosted by Vee at Past,Present and Me