Kiwi Smoothie

Back to my love affair with smoothies.

1 kiwi fruit

1 glass milk

2-3 leaves mint

Sugar to taste- I omitted 

Method:

Peel the kiwi fruit and cut it into chunks. Blend with milk, and sugar till you get a smooth consistency. 

Muddle the mint leaves in a glass with a tablespoon of the mix. Add rest of the mix, and serve. 

Ragi Milk

I know it is ridiculous, but ever since I bought ragi flour, ever meal seems to have become a ragi meal. This ragi milk is very popular in Karnataka, and though my mother has it often, I made it for the first time today. And we all loved it.

For 3 cups ragi milk:

1/4 cup ragi flour

1/2cup water

2 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar-cinnamon mix

Method:

Heat the water, add some water to the flour to make a paste. Add the paste to the water, and cook with constant stirring till the paste turns shiny. 

Blend milk, ragi paste and sugar in a mixer till smooth. Serve chilled. 

You can replace the cinnamon with cardamom powder. 

Chocolate Sago Pudding

Continuing on the Sago Saga started last year, here is a delightfully rich chocolate pudding, which almost makes you forget about chocolate bars.

1 litre milk 

100 gms sago/sabudana
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste
3 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:
Soak the sago in water. The water should cover the sago and there should be a bit extra. Keep the soaked sago overnight, in the fridge. In the morning, drain the sago from the water and keep aside. You need about 1/2 cu sago for this.
Reserve 1/2 cup milk. Bring the rest of the milk to boil, reduce the flame, and heat with constant stirring till the volume reduces to half. Add sugar, and stir till it dissolves.
Add the drained sago to the milk, and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sago pearls lose their opaque white color and become colorless. Remove from fire.
Add the cocoa powder, and mix well. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours. 

Mix in the reserved milk before serving.

Methi Chicken with a medley of spices

This was another of those recipes that had me at "Hello". One  look at the photograph, and I knew I  had to go through the recipe. One scan of the recipe and I had to bookmark it to make someday.
Strangely, despite the presence of many iffy spices, the recipe was a hit at home, and every last bit of it was polished off.

1 curry cut chicken

Marination:
1 cup hung curd
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 green chill, minced
1/2 tsp javitri (mace powder)

2 tsp oil /butter
4 Cloves
1/2 tsp whole jeera
1 inch piece of cinnamon
salt to taste
1 cup milk /milk plus water
1 tbsp roasted besan
1/2 tbsp Kasoori methi

Method:

Marinate the chicken after cleaning it well. Wrap with clingfilm and keep in refrigerator overnight.

Heat oil and put whole garam masala.

When it stops spluttering, add the marinated chicken with salt and let it cook on medium heat. Stir off and on. 

After 10 to 15 minutes, add milk or milk and water and the roasted besan - cook for another 5 minutes. 

Sprinkle kasoori methi and cook away for another 5 minutes.

Serve with parathas.

Apple kheer

Two days back, I decided to give up sugar for a few weeks to see how my body adapts to the change. Since it was a spur of the moment decision taken during the course of a single run, I didn't have time to prepare myself for the change. And of course, the one thing my tongue doesn't stop craving is ... you guessed it.... sugar.
I could cheat, and use honey or palm sugar, or some other sugar substitute, but I prefer to play by the rules I have set for myself. This apple kheer (adapted from chana payash) was a perfect compromise- the sweetness comes entirely from natural sources, and it is definitely enough of a dessert to satisfy my craving.

1 litre milk
1 large apple
1 tbsp curds
1/2 time
A pinch of nutmeg powder




Method:
Make paneer out of 1/2 litre of milk (paneer recipe here- I mixed in curds before boiling, and added the lime juice after it started boiling).
While the paneer is draining, take the rest of the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel, and reduce it on a low flame till it is about 75% of the original volume.
Add finely sliced pieces of the apple, and keep stirring till the volume reduces to half the original volume.
Grate the paneer into the milk, and cook on a low flame till you achieve the desired consistency.
Add nutmeg powder, and mix well.
Chill before serving.

Coffee Sago Pudding

This is my second take on the Sago Saga- a coffee flavoured version that I absolutely love.

4 cups milk
1/4 cups coffee decoction*
3½ tablespoons sago/sabudana
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

Method:
Soak the sago in water. The water should cover the sago and there should be a bit extra. Keep the soaked sago overnight, in the fridge. In the morning, drain the sago from the water and keep aside.
Bring 4 cups milk to boil, reduce the flame, and heat with constant stirring till the volume reduces to 2 1/2 cups.
Add the coffee decoction and the drained sago to the milk, and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sago pearls lose their opaque white color and become colorless. Remove from fire.
Chill in the fridge for 3 hours, before serving.

*- I used filter coffee decoction but you can replace it with an equivalent quantity of coffee powder dissolved in warm water.

'Plain Rose' Sago Kheer

Reading the "Sago Saga" on Kenzy's Kitchen Korner, inspired me to try my own variations of the humble Sago Kheer. This is my take on the plain vanilla version, or should I call it my Plain Rose version?

4 1/4 cups milk
3½ tablespoons sago/sabudana
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
1/2 tsp rose essence
2-3 drops red food colouring

Method:
Soak the sago in water. The water should cover the sago and there should be a bit extra. Keep the soaked sago overnight, in the fridge. In the morning, drain the sago from the water and keep aside.
Bring 4 cups milk to boil, reduce the flame, and heat with constant stirring till the volume reduces to 2 1/2 cups.
Add the drained sago to the milk, and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sago pearls lose their opaque white color and become colorless. Remove from fire.
Add the rose essence and food colouring and mix well. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours. Before serving, add the remaining milk and mix well.

Petit Pains au Lait

I haven't baked bread for a very, very long time, and though I had an unopened packet of yeast, the mojo was completely gone. Till I saw this recipe for Petit Pains au Lait by Rhea Mitra-Dalal. The bread looked so wonderful, I couldn't wait to measure out the flour, and before you knew it, the yeast was bubbling away.
The rest, as they say, is history. The bread got baked, and it turned out to the the softest, most yummy bread I have had for a long, long time. So lovely, in fact, even the younger one returned for seconds. Definitely a Winner!

2 1/2 cups flour with 2 tablespoons flour reduced.
2/3 cup warmed milk
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup regular sugar
1/4 tsp salt
60 grams butter

2 tbsp milk for washing
Pearl sugar or large grained sugar (I didn't have, so skipped)

Method
In a large mixing bowl pour in the warmed milk and add the yeast and the sugar. Let it froth for 10 minutes, and after it starts sizzling, stir it well, and add the flour and then the salt.
Mix it all well with your fingers till it resembles large crumbs. This should take two to three minutes. Now add the butter and knead it into the flour mix to till it all comes together. Remove the dough to your cleaned work surface and start working the dough. Keep a little milk handy and add it by the mere teaspoonful if the dough is too stiff. Knead for a good 10 to 15 minutes till the dough is soft and smooth. Place it a bowl and cover with a damp napkin and leave it to rise. This will take around an hour and a half to double in size.

 Turn out onto the work surface and deflate it gently. Divide into 10 portions and leave to rise for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Take each individual ball of dough and roll out into a circle roughly 6 inches across. Roll up the disc to form a cylinder and then place it on your baking tray. Make ten such rolls and leave them to prove for another hour till they are nice and plump again.

A distinct feature of Pains au Lait are the cuts made along one side of the roll that result in a pretty pattern on the golden rolls when they are finally baked. You can see how these cuts are made in this video here. Remember to brush the rolls with a little milk before you make the cuts so the final product has a beautiful glaze. Dot the rolls with pearl sugar if you have it or sprinkle regular sugar. You can also use demerara sugar if you like or avoid the sugar entirely.

Bake the rolls in a 200C preheated oven for approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they can burn easily.

These rolls are best had hot out of the oven - with a dash of butter.

Mango ice cream

When it is mango season, can mango ice cream be far behind. I adapted this recipe from the internet, and though it was nice, I think I will stick to store bought mango ice creams in future.

3 mangoes

1 1/2 cups whole cream milk

1/4 cup sugar

Method:

Peel, chop and puree the mangoes with the sugar.

Add milk, and blend a few times in the mixer till well incorporated.

Pour into a flatish container and freeze for about 2 hours.

Remove from the freezer, and blend again in the mixer.

Pour it back into the same container, cover with cling film, taking care to ensure that the surface touches the film, so no ice particles are formed.

Let it set completely before serving

Mango milkshake

Summer time means mango time. More specifically, Alphanso time. And this year, we are lucky- for some reason, the EC has banned imports of mangoes, which means prices are lower than they have been for years. And therefore, time to indulge!
Presenting the most basic drink of all- the mango milkshake.

2 ripe mangoes
2 cups milk
Sugar to taste (optional- I prefer not to add)

Method:
Peel the mangoes, and slice all the pulp into a blender jar.
Add milk, and sugar (if required), and blend on the lowest speed setting for about 90 seconds.
Pour into glasses and enjoy.

Creamy egg curry

Cloves, cinnamon and cardamon. Kenzy's creamy egg curry had me at 'Hello'. Only, instead of making it with eggs, I decided to experiment with soya nuggets instead. I adjusted the chilli down from 3 to 1, but even that proved too spicy for the kids- I underestimated the power it would unleash when ground- next time, I tone it down even more.

1 big onion
1 inch ginger
1 small green chili (or a part of a larger one)
½ liter milk
1-2 tblspns oil
Salt to taste
3/4 cup soya nuggets soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes

¼ tspn Bengali garam masala (equal parts ground cinnamon, cloves and cardamom)
A couple of sprigs coriander to garnish (optional)


Method:
Grind the onion, ginger and chilies to a fine paste, without adding water.
Heat oil. Add the ground paste n sauté well till the paste changes to a darker color n the onions are cooked.
Take off from fire. After 2-3 minutes, gradually add warm milk and stir to blend the milk well with the fried onion/ginger//chilies paste.
Put the vessel back on slow fire n allow it to heat up. Stir continuously.
Let the gravy boil on low heat till you achieve the desired thick consistency for the gravy- I let it thicken to slightly less than cream consistency.
Add soya nuggets which had been soaked in warm water (for about 10 minutes).
Allow the curry to simmer for a couple of minutes.
Add salt, Bengali garam masala and simmer for half a minute.
Garnish with coriander leaves n serve with steamed rice.

Cà Phê Trứng

I stumbled across Cà Phê Trứng quite accidentally, and was quite intrigued by the concept of adding egg yolk to coffee. But I couldn't get the idea out of my mind either, so when I was making omelet for my hubby yesterday, I saved the egg yolk and made the coffee today.
Sweeter than I would like my coffee to be, it was surprisingly good. No "eggy" flavour, much less an "eggy" smell- if I have to describe it, I would say it tastes a lot like tiramisu might in a liquid form.
Definitely making it again- calories be damned!

1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons coffee powder
2 teaspoons of sweetened condensed milk
Boiling water

Method
Brew a small cup of filter coffee.
Put the yolk and the sweetened condensed milk in a small, deep bowl and whisk vigorously until you end up with a frothy, fluffy mixture. Add a tablespoon of the brewed coffee and whisk it in.
In a clear coffee cup, pour in your brewed coffee, then add the fluffy egg mixture on top.
Mix it well, and your cà phê trứng is ready.
In Vietnam, they serve the coffee over a bowl of hot water, so the coffee remains warm longer.

Gajar ka halwa- Xmas is here

The first gajar ka halwa of the season. Photograph banta hai!!!!

I bought the carrots intending to make halwa, but it languished in the fridge for two days, because I was too lazy to actually make it. I had a really long run today (one kilometer short of 25 miles), and decided we were having Mc Donalds because I was too tired to cook. And then, at 7 pm, I started grating the carrots, and gave my arm muscles a great workout. After dinner, in a fit of madness, I started on the gajar halwa, and it was done by about 11:30.  After all that, don't you think it deserves a picture at least?

Recipe here

Cashew milk

I saw this lovely recipe for an East Indian desert using cashewnuts and milk, which looked like marzipan, but was softer, and wanted to try it out. Nothing about it seemed difficult, and I jumped into it with my normal enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I didn't know what "softball stage" meant and never thought to ask (I now know that if you put a blob in water, it should solidify), so I ended up with something that tasted good, but just didn't hold any form.
I thought I would have to bribe the kids into eating it, but at the last moment, remembered the "badam milk" that my mother makes. So I added the cashew paste to milk, and whisked it in the blender. The result was amazing!

500 ml full fat milk
200 gms sugar
50 gms cashewnut powder (cashew whirled in the mixie to get a powder)
1 tsp butter
Few drops of vanilla essence
 

Method

Boil the milk until reduced to half
Add sugar and cook until the mix thickens
Add the cashewnut powder and mix well
Cook until softball stage, add the butter, essence and mix well and let it cool.

When ready to serve, put 2 tbsp of the paste in 1 glass milk and whisk well.

Serve chilled.

Chana payash

I first heard about Sharat Poornima last year, and since I had two bananas that were ready to be consigned to the dustbin, made a banana payasam instead. That obviously set a precedent, and this year too, I decided to make a white sweet to commemorate the festival. Since I have just learnt to make paneer, this recipe of Uma Chinkaru was right up my street.

1 litre milk
1/3 cup sugar
cardamon powder for garnish

Method:
Make paneer out of 1/2 litre of milk (paneer recipe here).
While the paneer is draining, take the rest of the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel, and reduce it on a low flame till it is about half the original volume.
Grate the paneer into the milk, add the sugar, and cook on a low flame till you achieve the desired consistency.
Add cardamon powder.
Chill before serving.

Whey drink

Ever since I started making paneer at home, I have got a lot of whey. People seem to use it to make rotis, but since it is super rich in proteins, I decided to make it my post-run drink. Unfortunately, it tastes rather bland on its own, and I realized I would have to pep it up, if I am not to treat it as a punishment drink. This was one such successful cocktail.

Infuse 2 sprigs of curry leaves, and 1 large green chilli slit lenghtwise in whey overnight. Add salt to taste, and slurp.

Bhappa sandesh

Growing up in Calcutta as I did, Sandesh has always been a favourite sweet of mine. There was an outlet of Sweet Bengal near our previous house, so it was easy for me to indulge myself. Somewhere along the line, the kids developed a taste for Sandesh too, and we ended up buying it once or twice a month. You do not get milk sweets near our new house, but to be honest, we are so busy exploring what we do have, that none of us has got a chance to really miss it.
I would not have made sandesh today, if not for a combination of events. I almost always make a sweet on Dussera day, but was just not able to get my act together yesterday. When I came to know that in some parts of the country, they were continuing to celebrate the festival today, I wondered if I should sneak a sweet in. At the same time, the milkman hadn't seen my "No Milk" note this morning, and had delivered the milk. Since I wasn't expecting it, the milk had been out for nearly five hours before I got it in, and I thought it sensible to make paneer or channa out of it. A half-forgotten memory of a step-by-step recipe by Jayanta Das on Indian Food Freak stirred in my mind, and before I knew it, I was committed to making Bhappa Sandesh.
It is a really simple recipe, and the results are fantastic. Definitely something I am going to make more often.
PS- this was a promise I kept- more pictures here

1 litre milk
2 tbsp curds, beaten
juice of 1 lime
100 gms powdered sugar
couple of drops rosewater
couple of drops red food colouring

Boil the milk, with the beaten curds. Just when it starts to boil, add the juice of one full lime. Once the whey separates, hang the cheese in a cloth for about half an hour. Wash it in cold water for the aroma of lemon to go away. Leave it like this for another 30 minutes.
Knead the powdered sugar well with the cheese for around 10 minutes. Add the rosewater and the colouring, and mix so it is well incorporated.
Take a steel box, grease it with ghee and place in the cheese covering the edges nicely. Place the box in a pressure cooker, pour water till half the level of the tiffin box upper edge. Cover the lid without the whistle and leave the cooker at mid flame for 20 minutes.
Take the box and overturn it on a plate. Leave it to cool at room temperature and then refrigerate it for an hour.
Cut into nice square shapes, and garnish with rose petals if you have them.

Bajra Whatever

This dish is special, because it is the first meal I cooked for myself in the kitchen of our new house. About a week after we moved in, I got fed up of ordering takeaways (though there are some awesome places to order from here), and soaked some bajra with the intention of making bajra khichdi for lunch.
But when the time came to actually make it, I couldn't find the coconut grater and someone had finished off my stock of singdana, so I had to innovate.

I stir fried garlic, onions and a carrot, added salt, pepper and dry parsley to taste. Threw in the cooked bajra, and some milk, and let the whole thing simmer till I got a consistency I liked.

Tasted much better than I hoped, and the intention is to make it more often, because it makes a change from a regular bajra khichadi.

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Smoothies in any form or kind are my favourite post-workout snack. This is one I reserve for long runs, because I have been told that chocolate is one of the best drinks you can have post run. Sometimes I wonder if I don't run as much as I do, only so I can indulge!!!!

Blend 1 cup milk, 1 banana and 1 tbsp cocoa powder till smooth. Yummy.

Spiced Chocolate

When I saw this recipe in the newspaper, I nearly gagged. Chocolate and chilli flakes- how could they. But when something sounds as counter intuitive as that combination does, it pays to check it out. Made it first on Monday, and have made it once a day, every day after that. I better start looking for a slightly lower calorie version- this cannot be good for me in this quantity!

Place 1 cinnamon stick and the leaves of one sprig mint in a mug of milk, and bring it to boil. Remove from heat, and let it stand for 5 to 10 mins. Strain out the cinnamon and mint, return to the fire, and add 50 gms of chocolate (I used CDM) broken into small pieces. Stir on a low flame till the chocolate melts completely (recipe called for making it really frothy, but it is better otherwise). Serve garnished with one tsp chilli flakes.