4th Sense Cooking

Ginger Soup or Rasam

2012-01-25T04:05:00.001-08:00

Fortunately Chennai has been pretty chill this winter and even more fortunate that winter is still on. The evenings are breezy and pleasant :)

Though it feels good to have a cold climate the side effects of it still remain unpleasant. I mean the cold, cough and fever that it gives us is killing.

On such unpleasant throat conditions, having a piping hot ginger soup or rasam can give you the most soothing experience for sure. The double bonanza is that it would solve digestive issues too!! Aaah that's awesome isn't it!! :)

Ingredients:

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Tamarind paste - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Sambhar powder - 2 tblsps

Salt - for taste

Water - 3 cups

Green chillies - 2

Curry leaves

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Method:

Dissolve the sambhar powder, asafoetida, turmeric powder, tamarind paste and salt in water.

Peel off the skin of the ginger and crush it using a stone. Put the crushed ginger into the rasam.

Chop the green chillies.

Take a tsp of oil in a pan and temper with mustard seeds. Now drop in the chopped chillies and curry leaves and fry for just a min. Now add this to the rasam and bring it to a boil.

Serve piping hot as soup or mix this with rice and have it as rasam.

Enjoy the healthy cup of soup :)

Tips:

You can add some cooked dhall to this rasam too.

Written by: Nithya
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Eggless Chocolate Centered Vanilla Muffins

2012-01-19T02:02:00.000-08:00

I'm back into weight concious mode and mood. Yup! Joined gym and have been working out for a couple of days now. Happiness is showing up as few extra pounds on my body :P Trying hard to trim it off.

Does that mean I would stop baking or indulging on filthy rich food!! NEVER.

Just that I would keep an eye on the quantity of intake. For example making a large cake and resisting to cut out a small piece for myself is hard for me, rather I would choose to bake cup cakes or muffins and stop with just one a day :) It makes life simple!!

Have been enjoying a lot of chocolate flavored cakes lately and wanted a change this time but really couldnt afford to miss the chocolate touch too. Hence came this chocolate filled vanilla muffins :)

They were absolute tongue ticklers :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup (200 gms)

Powdered sugar - 150 gms (10 tblsp)

Cooking soda - 1 tsp

Cooking oil - 135 ml (9 tblsp)
Milk - 150 ml (10 tblsp)
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Cooking chocolate - 100 gms

Method:

Sieve all purpose flour, cooking soda and powderd sugar together into a bowl.

Add milk, cooking oil and vanilla essence and whisk to bring together. The cake batter should be lumpless and in dropping consistency.

Bring the cooking chocolate to room temperature and shave it using grater.

Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C. Line the muffin tray with liners.

Fill muffin cups with cake batter upto 1/2 the height and now carefully place a spoon of chocolate shavings on top of the batter, just covering the center and not the sides. Now drop in few spoons of cake batter on top to cover the chocolate layer.

Bake it for 12 to 15 mins at 375°F or 190°C. Mine was done in 15 mins.

Truly yummylicious egg-less chocolate centered muffins are ready to eat :)

This quantity makes 12 soft muffins.

Enjoy making it just like what I did ;)

Variation:

Add the chocolate shavings to the batter and give it a mild whip and bake them to get chocolate spotted muffins :)

Tips:

Use cooking chocolate for the filling. This chocolate melts well when the cake is warm and gives a gooey center.

Spoon enough batter on top of the chococlate filling layer to avoid hole on top like mine :( Never mind it still looks interesting :P

Try to bake chocolate flavored cake with white chocolate filling for a change too :)

Written by: Nithya
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Pongal Celebrations 2012

2012-01-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

Wish you all a very happy Pongal :)

This is my first festival at my new nest and I enjoyed celebrating it with the beautiful family :)

Hope you all had a great day as well with loads of pomp and joy.

There are many versions of chakkara pongal and I like all of them :) Basically I have a sweet tooth and pongal is one of my favorite sweet dish.

Mom's version is with milk completely and the version that we made this year is the authentic temple style with dhall. Lucky me, got to taste both today and enjoyed them throughly :)

Checkout for the milk version here and for pongal Kolambu here.

Ingredients:

Rice(New rice) - 1 cup

Moong dhall - 2 tblsp

Jaggery - 1 cup

Water - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Ghee - 3 tblsp

Raisins

Cashew nuts

Cardamom

Borneol ( Pacha Karpooram)

Method:

Wash rice and moong dhall together. Pressure cook them by adding 3 cups of water for 4 whistles.

Take jaggery and 1/2 cup of water in a pan and heat on low flame until the jaggery melts completely. Switch off the stove and pass through a sieve to remove dirt.

Now take a heavy bottom pan and transfer the jaggery liquid and the cooked rice and dhall to it. Add milk and stir well. Close the pan with a lid and cook until it becomes thick. Stir in equal intervals to avoid it getting stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Fry cashews and raisins in ghee and mix it to the pongal. Finally add a pinch of cardamom and pacha karpooram and stir once.

Delicious chakkara pongal is ready.

Enjoy it hot :)

Miniature pongal at home :P

Written by: Nithya
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Mint Rice

2012-01-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

Mixed rice is a boon when it comes to quick lunch plans and also for packing up food for work. It has for heaven sake been our family favorite too and we enjoy such rices much better than sambar and rasam types of large spreads.

A rice with fresh mint flavor can sure be your favorite too.

Spare ten mins in your kitchen to make mint rice mix and enjoy making mint rice as and when you like just in a jiffy :)

Ingredients:

Mint leaves - 1 bunch

Coconut - 1/2 cup

Red chillies - 6

Tamarind paste - 1 tblsp

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Salt - for taste

Onion - 1

Oil - 3 tblsp

Method:

Pluck, clean and wash the mint leaves.

Grind mint leaves, scrapped coconut, red chillies, tamarind paste, jaggery and salt together into a smooth paste by adding some water. Keep it aside.

Dice onion into small squares.

Take 3 tblsp of oil in a pan and fry the onions until transparent. Now add the ground mint paste and cook on medium flame until it is well cooked and becomes a thick paste.

Once done allow it to cool for a while and transfer to a clean bottle.

Store in referegerator and use. It will last fresh for two weeks.

To make mint rice:

Cook rice and separate the grains by adding some ghee to it.

Now mix the mint rice paste that we made above with the cooked plain rice. See to that you dont smash the rice.

Serve it with chips.

Enjoy the mint flavored rice :)

Tips:

Remember to cook rice with a little less water than usual to keep the grains separated.

You can use basmathi rice for making this mint rice.

Written by: Nithya
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Food on Voyage - Italy (Part 3)

2012-01-05T03:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome all to Venice - the most romantic and beautiful city built by man !!! :)

We used the Euro rail to travel from Florence to Venice and it is such a bliss to travel along the green and beautiful country side!!

The first sight when you get out of the station is WATER and no roads!!! It was a big WOW expression from both of us. Either walk to the destination or sail! :) Wish Chennai was so! :P

We walked down the street to reach our hotel and then headed for the romantic Gondola ride through the beautiful waterways of Venice :)

It was the most pleasurable experience of our life time :) No wonder it was, when my man was with me!! :P

Venice - the land of masks had a huge variety of masks of their own make. Every single piece was beautifully colored and decorated. It was pretty hard to choose one!! Oops they are of course expensive!

Walking through the narrow streets of Venice counts for an experience by itself. The old buildings and the squares are simply admirable.

Traveling from one place to another is either through private water taxis or through Vaporetto(Water buses) . We choose to walk all the way in the day time and hopped into the buses in the evenings when it became super cold.

The temperature was as low as 6 degrees and due to the water around it was feeling all the more chill and breezy. Thinking back, I pat myself for have managed to enjoy that temperature too :)

We happened to walk through the public market of Venice and found a lot of fresh produce being sold.

The fresh artichokes were so attractive for I have never seen one before!

Lots of fresh oranges and tomatoes were stealing the eyes with their bright colors.

Had a hot Eggplant & Zucchini pizza to feed the hungry tummies. Lip smacking it was with a super thin crust.

We took a half a trip to nearby islands - Murano, Burano and Torcello that evening.

Murano is known for its glass factories and are undoubtedly the best at it.

We got a chance to see a live demo of glass blowing technique. The art brought goose bumps all over.

The below picture will give you a sample of astonishment that I got while I walked through the glass factory and showroom. Could have been the best of possessions a food blogger would love to have, but dint buy them due to the risk of breaking a beautiful art piece :( Sigh!!

Next was the visit to the second island - Burano, which is the city of lace making. The women their are best at it. The fine art with thread is so delicate and pretty.

This is the city of colors too. Each and every building in the city is of different color which makes it super attractive and a perfect location for shooting movies!

Visited the last Island - Torcello and came back to Venice to have a hot plate of spaghetti. It was simply the best of pastas we have ever had.

We bid adiau to Venice and moved on to Milan next for a halt of a day.

Milan - the fashion capital kept us eager as we entered the place, since we were given a great heads up about the place earlier.

Duomo at Milan can given you an architectural shock!! Its so damn big and beautiful. The doves that go around Duomo will make you stay there and admire them for a long time. They are an amazing entertainment for the kids and the crowd :)

A walk through the posh city will surely make you feel the difference of this modern city from rest of Italy.

The streets are lined up with showrooms of top brands like Prada, Gucci and so on..

Their window display is super creative and attractive. It calls one to get into the store but just to get out with nothing because they are filthy expensive. Nevertheless the window shopping experience by itself is worth a billion :)

The window display of Sergio Rossi(above) and Louis Vuitton(below) elephants below kept me look back to them again and again for their elegance and catchy ideas.

Love stories have a good ending and so was my happy trip with a scrumptious chocolaty gelato.

One of the best I had in the trip. They gave us a choice of dark and light chocolate liquid filling into the waffle cone first which was topped with a generous scoop of gelato(ice cream) of our choice.

The last and the best Gelato we had. Dark chocolate lava filling topped with chocolate ice cream and a waffle on top :) I am drooling right now!! Wish I could get back to Italy just for those super duper delicious creamy Gelato :)

Came back at the end of ten short days with loads and loads of experience and memories for life time :)

Love you ITALY :)

Written by: Nithya
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Chocolate Pudding - New year celebration

2012-01-01T23:05:00.000-08:00

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2012

2011 was a very eventful year for me with loads of happy moments and good memories to keep rambling for a life time. Its so astonishing when I look back to note that the year passed by in a jiffy. It just feels like moments but 356 long days have gone. Oops!!

Hope you all had a lovely year too and may god bless us all with a fantastic year ahead :) Looking forward for an exciting 2012.

With this note, I am also happy to announce that I have put my laziness to sleep and have taken up Project 365 - A click a day project :) I will be posting a photograph a day in my new born blog - http://nitsclicks365.blogspot.com/ :) Hoping to entertain you all with pretty clicks.

I wanted to start the year with a sweet note and hence here is a simple chocolate pudding for you all.

The moment I saw this recipe on veggie belly, I bookmarked it and was waiting for an occasion to make this and new year was so apt to enjoy with chocolaty pudding. I had to make few changes in the recipe to get the right consistency, hence here is the recipe with my measurements :)

Ingredients:

Milk - 2 1/2 cups

Corn flour - 4 tblsp

Cocoa powder - 2 tblsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Method:

Sieve corn flour and cocoa powder together into a bowl. Pour 1 cup of milk(Room temperature) into the bowl and mix with a whisk until it blends well with the milk. Keep it aside.

Boil the remaining milk along with sugar and mix until the sugar melts. Now reduce the flame and pour in the chocolate milk mixture through a sieve into the boiling milk and keep stirring. Keep stirring on medium flame until it becomes thick and glossy.

Wash the cups or moulds and pour the pudding into the cups and set them in the refrigerator for 3 hours minimum.

Serve them chill :)

Tips:

See to that the milk is in room temperature before you mix corn flour and cocoa powder.

Pass the chocolate milk mixture through a sieve while pouring into the boiling milk to avoid it forming lumps.

Written by: Nithya
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Food on Voyage - Italy (Part 2)

2011-12-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

My trip continued to the calm and beautiful city of Florence. The well planned city with small and serene streets can sure steal your heart.

Florence is said to be the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany.

We visited the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral or Duomo) which is one of the largest churches in Europe. The architecture is simply jaw dropping. It makes us wonder how they managed to build such large structures way back in 1296.

The next was the best part of the trip :) or rather the best part of a food blogger's trip or say life!! :)

My dear hubby had surprised me by booking in for a cookery class at Florence. It was a 3 hour beautiful session by the cookery institute called In-Tavola.

I got a chance to learn a 4 course Italian meal and the experience of cooking at their kitchen was fabulous.

Learnt to make Millefoglie Di Verdure (Vegetable Millefoglie) , Crespelle and Salsa di Beschiamella (Crepes and Bechamel Sauce), Crespelle Fiorentina (Florence Crepes), Pollo alla Cacciatore (Hunter's chicken) and finally Tiramisu :D

The session ended with dining the delicious food that we cooked :)

All thanks to hubby for giving me the best gift of experience :)

The next day started with a visit to the Ponte Vecchio bridge which is constructed over the river Arno.

Its a beautifully constructed stone bridge on which there are loads of jewellery shops lined on both the sides.

We broke the monotony of pizza with some pita for lunch at florence :P

They were fresh and delicious but for me Italian food was generally void of spice. After eating loads of breads, cheese and pastas the Indian tongue started craving for spice which it is used to for years you see!! :P

We enjoyed eating some fresh spaghetti as well.

Next we headed to Galleria dell' Accademia - the art gallery which holds a lot of works by the great Michelangelo.

The first master piece of Michelangelo - The original of David stands brilliantly tall in this gallery. The picture below is a replica of David which is kept in the city.

There aren't enough words in the dictionary to praise Michelangelo for his talent of painting, sculpting, architecture and so on. King of all arts :)

Tuscany is famous for its produce of red and white wine. Every restaurant serves wine and you will get to see a lot of stores selling them at a good deal too.

The next best product to buy at Florence is Pastas. There are loads of shapes, sizes and flavors available and they taste really good too. :)

All you need is good amount of space in your baggage to pack them all :P

Oh yeah!! You have to wait for part 3 for a virtual visit to Venice and Milan :)

Stay connected :)

Written by: Nithya
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Food on Voyage - Italy (Part 1)

2011-12-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

Its almost a month since I came back from my 10 day fun trip to Italy but I'm still enjoying thoroughly, the reminiscence of the trip.

Recollecting and writing a travelogue is fun for sure. That too when it comes to recollecting the food that I had there, I just can't stop drooling over again and again :P

Italy is simply a FANTASTIC location to visit and every single place we visited was damn scenic and picture perfect. AWESOME is not a word enough to express about the art and architecture of Italy.

We managed to cover ravishing Rome, fascinating Florence, vibrant Venice and magical Milan through our trip.

The Rome illuminated tour showed us the beauty of the city with bright lights. The first sight at the Vatican brought goosebumps all over the body. The huge pillars and the amazing architecture and sculptures are just too brilliant.

The amazing fresco(Paintings) of Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel are still fresh in my thoughts. Unbelievably beautiful work of perfection and the messages they convey are over brilliant. Just dint want to walk out of that place. The guide told us that it would take 12 long years if we had to look at each painting in the Chapel for just 60 seconds each!! Imagine the number of frescos!!! Oops. An over dose of aesthetics I feel :)

The Trevi fountain - one of the largest fountains in the world was so magnificent. We tossed a coin into the fountain for the belief of getting back to Rome sometime :)

We got to taste the first original Italian Pizza and OMG, I am still not able to forget the taste of it. Being a vegetarian I choose an onion & olive pizza and can just bow down to the simplicity yet deliciousness of it. A dizzle of fresh home grown olive oil tops it all :)

The day trip started with the visit to Colosseum. Considering that it was constructed during the 80 AD, architecture at its best is what I can say. I so wonder how amazing an amphitheater it would have been just in case it was not ruined :(

No matter what, it is still an amazing architecture as it is. I'm so glad to have been there.

GELATO!!!!! I scream for ice cream :)

The burst of colors, flavors and texture is something you go flat for. For me it was 'love at first taste!!' :P

Italy is flooded with gelaterias and you just cant resist having them as and when you see them. Guess what!! I dint miss having them even on one single day of the trip :)

The cups or waffles are ranged from 1.5 euros to 3 euros and the quantity of gelato you receive is more than the money's worth.

The gelatos are more creamier and smooth than the ice creams that I have had in India.

Simply lip smacking :)

The flavors are innumerable and classic. Dark chocolate was our favorite of all :)

Sorbets were fun to have too. The berry flavors make us wink in sourness yet tempting to eat :)

Headed next to the Pantheon, which is commissioned by Marchus Agrippa as a temple to all gods of Ancient Rome. Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

On the way to the Spanish steps, we found roasted chestnuts sold on the pavements. They were arranged so neatly and were tempting enough, but was skeptical about its taste and failed to try it out for which I regret now. But guess what!! they were priced a bomb!!

The market had loads of stores selling candied fruits and candies of other kinds. Just couldn't resist the colorful look of it and we tried few of them like candied mandarin orages, mangoes and papaya etc.

We also enjoyed munching on gummy bears and more of such kind in various colors and shapes. The soft ice cream shaped marsh mellows were my personal favorite :) Don't they look cute???

We ended up the three days at Rome with a delicious Penne pasta with Neapolitan tomato sauce. Just as delicious as possible.

A romantic dinner in an open to sky table with sizzling hot pasta on a super cold night can truly make a memory worth a billion :)

An absolute Italian experience!!

Food at Italy will travel to Florence next with an exciting cookery session that I experienced :)

Catch up in a couple of days for more of Italy :)

Written by: Nithya
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Crispy Noodles Dessert

2011-12-04T00:16:00.000-08:00

Noodles is a universally liked dish I guess!! Haven't met anyone who was against noodles. When such a liked dish is converted into a dessert, I am sure it can only get exciting!!!

Had this dish at some restaurant long ago and thought of reproducing it at home. It came out to be yummy :)

Ingredients:

Noodles(Chinese) - 1 pack

Oil - to fry

Vanilla ice cream - 4 scoops

Honey - 3 tblsp

Sugar - 3 tblsp

Method:

Boil 2 cups of water with 1 tsp of oil. Remove from flame and drop in the noodles into it and keep the vessel closed for 10 mins. Drain the water and run the noodles under cold water, keep it aside.

Take oil in a pan and fry the cooked noodles little by little until it turns light brown and crispy. Collect them on kitchen tissue to drain excess oil.

Take the sugar in a pan and add 2 tsp of water. Heat this until the sugar melts and turns light brown. Remove from flame and add honey to it and mix well.

Serve some crispy fried noodles on the serving plate and top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Now pour the sugar honey syrup on top of it and serve immediately.

Enjoy eating crispy noodle dessert :)

Written by: Nithya
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Aloevera Pickle

2011-12-01T02:35:00.000-08:00

Aolevera pickle!!! Yup.. even I exclaimed when my neighbor shared this with me. It was yummy and damn different. Its my kind of a pickle, sweet and delicious :)

Go ahead and try it out!! trust me you will love it.

Ingredients:

Aloevera - 10
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Methi Seeds - 1/4 cup
Cooking oil - 1 cup
Chilly powder - 3 + 1 tsp
Jeera - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Dhaniya powder(coriander powder) - 2 tsp
Amchur(Mango powder) - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Mustard powder - 1 tsp

Method:

Cut small squares of aloevera and boil it. Soak raisins in warm water for 10 mins. Boil methi seeds.

Drain the water from all the above and press them against a towel to remove the water completely.

Take the aloevera, raisins, methi in a pan and add salt, turmeric powder, amchur powder, sugar and mustard powder. Toss until it spreads evenly. Now saute these for 5 mins.

Take a fresh pan and pour in the cup of oil. Add asafoetida, jeera, 1 tsp of chilly powder and immediately drop in the above sauted contents and mix well. This has to be down quickly before the chilly powder gets browned. This will keep the pickle red and nice to see.

Now let this pickle get cooked for another 1o minutes in medium flame.

Transfer to sterilized bottle and refrigerate and use. See to that the oil covers the top layer so that it does not get spoilt.

Enjoy eating a very healthy pickle.

Written by: Nithya
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Strawberry Cheese Cake

2011-11-28T01:00:00.000-08:00

I love cheese cake.. Or rather I love anything that is creamy and yummy :) I like it even after knowing how much of a damage it would cause to my waist line!! I always hear my food shouting out to me as "Now or never". Yup! Eat them all when you are healthy and young. Never postpone or keep yourself away from your cravings. Life is short and enjoy it everyday with a dessert of your choice :) My man would love these lines of mine :P

Ingredients:
Biscuits (Digestive Marie) - 6
Melted butter - 3 tsp
Strawberry crush - 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup for top layer
Hung curd - 1/2 cup
Fresh cream - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 tblsp
Gelatin - 3 tsp + 1 tsp
Water - 4 tsp

Method:
Grind the biscuits and mix in the melted butter with it, until it forms crumbs. Line the base of the serving dish with the biscuit mixture and press gently. Put in the fridge to set for an hour. Prepare hung curd using a muslin cloth. Beat whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Fold the cream, hung curd and 1/2 cup of strawberry crush together until it blends well to make a smooth mixture. Add 4 tsp of water in 3 tsp gelatin and microwave at high for 30 seconds or until completely dissolved. Then pour the gelatin slowly into the strawberry mixture. Keep stirring continuously.Now pour the strawberry mixture onto the set biscuit base.Cover and put in the fridge to set overnight. Take a bowl with 1 tsp of gelatin and pour 2 tsp of water and microwave for 30 seconds. Mix in 1/4 cup of strawberry crush and pour on top of the cheese cake layer and refrigerate for 3 hours. Serve chill with some whipped cream topping.

Note:

I dint have a spring form pan(Pan with removable base) so I used glass tumblers for my cheese cake. This is an interesting way to make individual portions of cheese cake :)

Written by: Nithya
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Fusilli Pasta In White Sauce

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Pasta is my favorite Italian dish after Pizza. I enjoy every variation of pasta and especially the creamy white sauce base is damn yummy :) I don't mind licking my plate and finger after a delicious pasta :)

If you have a similar taste, just go ahead and try this out :)

Ingredients:

Fusilli pasta - 2 cups
Beans - 50 gms
Carrot - 2
Spinach - 1/2 bunch
White sauce
Oregano - 1 tsp
Pepper - for taste
Salt - for taste
Mozzarella Cheese – 3/4 cup

For white sauce -

All purpose flour (Maida) – 4 tbsp
Butter – 4 tbsp
Milk – 3 cups
Salt

Method:

Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 5 mins. Strain and wash with cold water and keep it aside.

Dice beans and carrots into long pieces and cook them in microwave. Clean, chop and cook spinach.

To make white sauce - Dilute the maida in milk and mix it thoroughly without lumps. Melt the butter in a pan. Simmer the stove, pour in the diluted milk mixture and stir continuously until the sauce thickens. Finally add salt and mix well.

Now take a pan and add the cooked vegetables, spinach and pasta. Pour in the prepared white sauce and cook for five mins. Add oregano, salt and pepper to it mix well.

Transfer this to a baking dish and sprinkle the grated cheese on top and grill in an oven till the cheese melts down.

Serve hot and enjoy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
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Cucumber Olive Salad

2011-11-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

A salad a day keeps the doctor away. This can be a new generation saying ;)

A salad diet can easily fill your tummy but still make you feel so light and fresh. Salad is the mantra for a fit body. Ooops guess its a lot of gyan which I really don't follow everyday but then its true I say!! ;)

Here is a simple yet delicious salad for you all..

Ingredients:

Cucumber - 1
Cabbage - 1/2 cup grated
Sweet corn - 1/2 cup
Olives - 10
Capsicum - 1
Mint leaves - few
Curd - 1 cup
Salad dressing (Knorr - Light french salad dressing)
Mixed herbs - 1 tsp
Chilly flakes - for taste
Pepper - for taste
Salt - for taste

Method:

Dice cabbage, cucumber, capsicum and olives into small cubes. Chop mint leaves. Add them all in a large bowl and toss to mix it up. Add thick curd, salad dressing, mixed herbs, salt, pepper and chilly flakes and mix well.

Serve and enjoy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
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Recipe for Happy married life!

2011-11-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Born unknown to each other
We are beginning to bond together
for a better and sweeter life...

Yup! I would be married when this post is up ;) My status has changed from Ms to Mrs :)

The beginning of a new life :)

These rings are a symbol of our love. As it encircles our fingers, may it remind us always that we are surrounded by enduring love.

I'm glad to share the news that, 4th Sense Cooking has reached more people in the form of books. Yes! I have released my First Cook Book with a sample of 50 recipes with attractive pictures as in 4thsensecooking.com.

The overwhelming response for this book and loads of blessings from the readers are boosting my enthusiasm to do more and to keep up the expectation of all my viewers and readers!

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Consideration
2 Cups of Praise
1 Small Pinch of In-Laws
1 Tablespoon of Contentment
1 Gallon of Patience
2 Tablespoons of Flattery
1 Cup of Encouragement
A dash of Faith and Trust

Method:

Take love and loyalty and mix thoroughly with faith. Blend in kindness and understanding. Add friendship and surprise, stirring well. Fold in passion alternating with an abundance of laughter. Bake with sunshine and rainbows. Garnish with forgiveness and thoughtfulness. Serve daily with generous helpings.

YIELD: Serves 2 for a lifetime.

A food blogger's view of wedding!

Written by: Nithya
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Dry Pitala

2011-11-14T01:58:00.000-08:00

A million thanks to all my friends and relatives who have wished me by calls, mails and sent me gifts :) I am so overwhelmed and feeling really blessed :)

I need to extend my thanks to my sweetest neighbor Suman Mundra aunty who made a feast just for me :) She cooked a lot of dishes and presented to me in a beautiful way. It was an amazing spread with delicious dishes. Hugs aunty :)

I'm posting her recipes in my blog since I really fell for them and she was sweet enough to share the method with me.

Dry pitala is a Maharashtrian dish which goes as a great accompaniment for toast, poori or even ghee rice. Its simple to make and delicious to eat :)

Ingredients:

Besan (Chickpea flour) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Jeera - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Salt

Method:

Add three tsp of oil in a kadai and add jeera, asafoetida, turmeric powder, salt and curry leaves. Fry for a min and add chilly powder. Immediately pour in 1/2 cup of water. When it starts to boil, sieve in the besan and keep stirring until it gets cooked well and dries up to from crumbles. Add chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with poori, toast or eat with just ghee rice.

Variation:

Make a gravy of the same kind by adding more water and also chopped onion, capsicum, grated raw mangoes etc to make it flavorful.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Masala Kaapi - Indian Energy Drink

2011-11-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

I have been physically and mentally busy for the past few weeks and henceforth blogging has taken a back seat :(

Today I could hear my blog cry for some quick post and so did my energy crave for some boost. Went to the kitchen and quickly brewed a masala kaapi to rejuvenate myself and my blog :)

I enjoyed this version of typical Indian kaapi(Coffee) irrespective of my liking for coffee and tea. Hope you guys enjoy it too :)

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup
Coffee Decoction - 2 tblsp
Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
Cloves - 2
Ginger - 1/4 inch grated
Pepper - 3
Sugar - 2 tsp

Method:

Grind cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in the mixie.

Boil milk, add the ground masala and sugar to it and stir. Remove from flame and add freshly made coffee decoction and pour from one tumbler to the other until it foams ;)

Serve hot.

I tried the chill version of the same as well and liked it too :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Basundi - A dedication to my blogger buddies

2011-10-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

Wedding is a beginning of a new life. My big day is just a couple of weeks ahead and there is a lot of pomp and joy at home already. Parents are on their toes to get things all set perfect to make the day a very special one for us.

Me being the last one at home and for my generation in my family, is consider the apple of their eye and each of my cousins are treating my occasion as a festival and have been hosting bridal shower parties for me :) Oh that is pretty common and have seen such before.

Has anyone out here seen or experienced any virtual bridal shower party???!!!!!! No way.. Guess I am the most privileged one to have one such celebration for myself :)

My sweetest fellow bloggers got together to celebrate my big occasion and decided to host a virtual bridal shower party for me in their blogs. They picked up recipes from my blog, recreated them and posted them on their blogs with loads of wishes for me :) Thank you Anamika for such a cute idea and effort :) Nothing could be as pleasing as this :)

Guess what?!! it was absolutely a surprise for me to wake up one fine day last week to see 13 blogger buddies post something for me :) I exclaimed in joy!! I would say it could easily be the best bridal shower party ever.

I thank each and every blogger friend who took efforts to celebrate it for me.

Thank you -

Anamika of Taste Junction
Krithi of Krith's kitchen
Archana of Mad Scientist's Kitchen
Priya Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes
Priya Mahadevan of Priyas Now Serving
Priya Suresh of Priya Easy n Tasty Recipes
Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetit
Radhika of Tickling Palates
Radhika Vasanth of Food for 7 stages of life
Reva of Kaarasaaram
Rupali of Recipe Grab Bag
Sanjeeta of Different Strokes
Vardhini of Zesty Palette

You can check their posts in the links above :)

I request all of you to keep me in your prayers always and pass me your lovable blessings :)

I delicate this Basundi to you all for the sweetest gesture you all made for me :) Hugs to you all :)

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 ltr
Sugar - 10 tsps
Saffron strands - few
Cashew nuts - few
Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method:

Take the milk in a shallow non-stick pan and allow it to boil in medium flame. Leave it untouched until it starts forming malai(cream or paal aadai). Stir a couple of times in between until it becomes thick and creamy.

Meanwhile take a few tsps of warm milk and soak the saffron strands in it for ten mins.

Chop the cashews finely and roast it in ghee until light brown.

Once the entire milk comes down to 1/3 of its quantity and is creamy enough stir in the sugar, saffron milk and cardamom powder cook for just few mins. Garnish with roasted cashews and refrigerate.

Serve chill and enjoy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Milk Halwa - Diwali Wishes

2011-10-26T01:45:00.000-07:00

Wishing all my readers & friends a very happy Diwali :)

The festival of lights is here and its celebration time :) This festival is something that every kid would look forward for.

Sweets, New clothes, Wishes, TV programs and Crackers!! Can any other celebration get better than this?!!! ;)

Gods have been celebrating Diwali on the sky as well with idi vedi and lightning sparklers this year. Chennai is chill and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, watching my favorite movie with a hot cup of halwa in hand ;) Hope you all are having a great time too!!

Ingredients:

Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Ghee - 1 cup
Sooji(Rava) - 1/2 cup
Cashews - 10

Method:

Take milk, sugar, ghee and rava in a thick bottom pan and cook until it becomes thick. Keep stirring in intervals until it thickens and the ghee separates. Once it forms rolls into a ball without sticking to the pan, switch off the flame. The entire process would take around 20 mins.

Roast cashews in a tsp of ghee and garnish.

Simple, Delicious and rich milk halwa is ready :)

Enjoy eating :)

Tips:

You can add vanilla essence to it for extra flavoring.

Use thick milk for rich taste.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

2011-10-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

Baking cakes has always been an exciting occasion to me. This cake was all the more exciting since it was for a special occasion. My fiance's birthday :) Adding love and affection to the cake made it more delicious and beautiful ;)

Triple chocolate mousse cake is sure a super treat to chocoholics :) Chocolate cake topped with soft & silky dark chocolate mousse and light chocolate mousse can never fail to impress anyone.

All he said after tasting was "Its blissful" ;) - Mission accomplished :P

Ingredients:

For the chocolate cake -

All purpose flour (maida) - 2/3 cup
Powdered Sugar - 2/3 cup
Cocoa powder - 1/3 cup
Cooking soda - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg - 1
Milk - 2/3 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Cooking oil - 3 tbl sp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

For Chocolate Mousse -

Dark Chocolate - 125 gms
Milk chocolate - 125 gms
Butter - 125 gms + 125 gms
Whipping cream - 100 ml + 100 ml
Gelatin/agar agar powder - 2 tsp + 2 tsp

Method:

For the cake base -

Sift all purpose flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Beat egg, milk, oil, vanilla and water in a bowl and add it to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth and well combined.

Preheat the oven to 210 °C.

Grease 8" round springform pan with butter and dust with flour. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 mins at 210 °C. Check if cooked by inserting a tooth pic in the center. Once done, allow it to cool on a wire rack for a while.

For the mousse -

Chop the dark chocolate and 125 gms of butter into small chunks. Melt it using a double boiler or on a bowl over a pan of hot water. Once it melts and becomes a smooth mixture, remove from flame and keep it aside for it to come to room temperature.

Take a bowl full of ice cubes. Place another bowl on top of the ice and drop in 100 ml of whipping cream in it. Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the cream if the cream is sugarless. I used tropolite cream which is sweet by itself. Beat well until stiff and fluffy.

Take 2 tsp of gelatin in a microwavable bowl and add 2 tsp of water to it. Microwave for 30 seconds or until it melts. Allow it to come to room temperature.

Pour in half of the melted butter chocolate mixture into the cream and fold in gently. Add the remaining chocolate mixture and fold too. Finally pour in the gelatin mixture and fold until it combines well.

Fill this mousse mixture into a large piping bag.

Pipe a 1-inch layer of mousse on top of the cake. Smoothen it with spatula and refrigerate until mousse is set, about 20 minutes.

Repeat the same process with milk chocolate to make light chocolate mousse. Pipe it on top of the bittersweet chocolate mousse. Refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to overnight. Decorate on top with chocolate curls or shavings.

Remove from Springform pan, slice and serve chill.

Enjoy the most sinful dessert :P

Tips:

I don't have a springform cake pan, so I simply cut 5 inch high 26 inch long strip of ohp sheet (butter paper or a parchment paper). Wrap a parchment collar around base of the cake, keeping bottom flush with baking sheet. Secure collar ends with cellophane tape. Strip it off slowly once the mousse sets.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Oregano Fritter / Karpooravalli Bajji

2011-10-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

Isn't it interesting if healthy food comes in a flavorful and delicious form??!!!

This oregano fritter serves the purpose. A healthy and tasty snack for the evening :)

Oregano also know as Karpooravalli is a easily available herb in India. It can be grown in home garden and used for medical purposes. It cures cold and is a soothing herb for soar throat.

This is the first time I tried it in a bajji and fell for it instantly. Loved the flavor and the puffed up leaf shaped bajji was an attraction to all :)

Ingredients:

Oregano (Karpooravalli leaves) - 15

Besan(Chickpea flour) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Cooking soda - a pinch
Salt - for taste

Method:

Pluck, clean and wash the oregano leaves thoroughly and spread them on a clean cloth.

Mix a batter of besan, rice flour, chilly powder, garam masala, coriander powder, cooking soda, ginger garlic paste and salt by adding some water to it. The consistency should be that of bajji batter.

Now heat some oil in a pan. Dip the oregano leaves in the above made batter and fry till done on both the sides.

Enjoy the natural flavor of oregano in the fritter :)

Tips:

The same batter with the flavoring can be used for onion, potato and banana bajjis too.

Alternative method to make this is to simply chop the oregano leaves finely and add it to the batter. Drop small portions of the batter into the oil to make oregano bonda :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Vegetable Cheese Pizza - From Base

2011-10-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

I feel really great when I make some unusual dish (other than south Indian) at home from the base. It gives a sense of achievement and an opportunity to put the collars up when people exclaim "you made it at home???" :P

One such celebrated dish is Pizza. Making it at home right from the base is really exciting and delicious too :)

For heaven sake, pizza came out really well at the first go itself and I've been baking it quite a lot of times since then. I have tried different toppings for my pizza but nothing can beat the simple vegetable cheese version :)

Ingredients:

For the bread base -

All purpose flour(Maida) - 1/2 kg
Instant yeast - 15 gms
Butter - 10 gms
Sugar - 30 gms
Salt - 10 gms
Water

For pizza -

Pizza Sauce
Tomato - 2
Baby corn - 10 cobs
Red bell pepper - 1
Green bell pepper - 1
Yellow bell pepper - 1
Onion - 1
Paneer - 200 gms
Italian seasoning (Herbs)
Mozzarella cheese
Chilly flakes

Method:

For the bread base -

Take the maida in a large mixing bowl or simply pour it over your work surface. Make a large well in the center. Put sugar, salt and instant yeast in the center of the well. Add luke warm water to the yeast, sugar and salt mixture and mix well with your hands until the yeast becomes frothy and dissolves completely.

Now gradually push the maida into the yeast mixture and start kneading. Add adequate water to make soft and smooth dough. Knead well for 20 mins incorporating air bubbles. Add melted butter to the dough and kneed well until well incorporated.

Rest the dough for 1 hour covering the bowl with cling film or wet towel. The dough would raise to double its volume.

After an hour, knock down the air in the dough and divide the dough into three parts.

Flour the work surface and roll a ball into a flat disk of desired thickness(depends on how thick you like your pizza crust to be) Prick holes with fork. Place on greased tray and let it raise for another 10 mins.

Preheat the oven to 210 °C and bake for 10 mins.

Allow it to cool on wire rack. Cover and store in the fridge until use.

This quantity would make 3 medium sized bread bases.

Method:

For vegetable cheese pizza -

Place the bread base on the baking tray.

Spread two tblsp of pizza sauce on the base evenly.

Arrange the baby corn, paneer cubes, diced onion, tomato and bell peppers according to your favorite pattern and sprinkle grated cheese generously over the pizza.

Microwave it at maximum temperature for 3 mins or until the cheese melts completely.

Serve topped with Italian herbs and chilly flakes.

Enjoy the sizzling hot home made pizza :)

Note:

Use yeast that is active for best results.

Kneading the dough for atleast 20 mins is a must.

Do not knead too much after the dough raises. Just punch the air out and roll them into balls and flatten them.

Tips:

You can cover and preserve the bread base in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Use exotic toppings like mushrooms, olives, broccoli etc while you make it for guests :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Cucumber Mint Cooler

2011-10-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hot, hotter and hottest are the 3 seasons in Chennai :( We really don't seem to have much of winter experience. Hence a body coolant is never out of season.

I have been exhaustively shopping this season and I rejuvenate myself with such simple yet interesting drinks everyday.

Ingredients:

Cucumber - 1
Mint leaves - 20
Tender coconut - 1
Salt - for taste
Jal-jeera powder - a pinch

Method:

Clean and wash the mint leaves. Make a puree of it by adding some water. Filter it in a fine sieve and collect the extract.

Peel and de-seed the cucumber. Grind it in the mixie and filter to get clear cucumber juice.

Break open the tender coconut and collect the water. Scoop and chop the tender coconut and reserve it aside.

Mix half a cup of tender coconut water with half a cup of cucumber juice. Add two tsp of mint extract, salt and a pinch of jal-jeera powder and stir well.

Top it with ice cubes and chopped tender coconut and serve chill :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Grapes Poli (Boli / Obbattu)

2011-10-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Poli or Boli or Obbatu is a traditional flat bread made with all purpose flour and stuffed with a sweet filling. Dhall and coconut filling is the most common varieties made by everyone and it has been a custom at home to make them for Ayudha Pooja celebrations.

But then, this year me and mom were breaking our heads to make some interesting variation so that I can proudly blog about it :P yup! Intentions change and its okay until everybody enjoys the food isn't it??!! :)

After noticing a kg of grapes in the pantry, we decided to cook up something with it and Grapes poli was the result :)

Stunningly different and delicious dish I say!! A must try for those who love experimenting :)

Ingredients:

For filling (Grapes Kesari):

Rava(Semolina) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Grape juice - 2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Grape essence - 1 tsp
Ghee

For the wrapper:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 1 cup
Salt - a pinch
Cooking soda - a pinch
Cooking oil - 1/2 cup
Water

Method:

For Filling(Grapes Kesari):

Dry roast the rava in a pan for a couple of mins and transfer it on a paper. Measure and mix sugar with it and keep is aside.

Choose well ripen black grapes. Remove stems and wash them thoroughly.

Take the grapes in a large vessel and add one cup of water to it and boil it until the fruits get cooked. While its boiling, keep crushing the grapes with a masher until it is thoroughly juicy. Strain the extract and collect the juice. Measure two cups of juice and keep it aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan, take the extracted grape juice, grape essence and water. When it starts to boil add the rava and sugar mixture stirring continuously. In a medium flame keep stirring it until the semolina gets cooked and the contents roll out without sticking to the sides(Kesari consistancy) . Add ghee and mix well. Once done, leave it to cool.

Roll balls of this grapes kesari filling and keep them ready.

For Wrapper:

Mix all purpose flour, salt and cooking soda together. Add adequate water to roll it into a soft dough. Finally add oil and kneed well to make the dough smooth. Roll the dough into a ball and coat it heavily with oil and leave it alone for 3 hours.

To make poli:

Take a plastic sheet or kitchen foil and grease it with oil. Take a chunk of the wrapper dough, press it out to about 2-3 inches in diameter using your hands. Place a ball of grape kesari filling in the center and fold it from all sides, proceed to seal at the top. Now press it on all sides with your hand to make a boli of 5 inches wide. Carefully remove it from the sheet and toast it on a pan. Flip and toast on both the sides by applying some ghee over it.

Delicious and flavorful grape poli is ready to serve :)

This quantity would make around 20 polis. Refrigerate and use within 3 days.

Serve hot and enjoy eating :)

Tips:

You can simply make the grape kesari and serve it as it is. The purple shade is beautiful and the aroma and flavor of grapes makes it impressive.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Corn & Spinach Au Gratin

2011-09-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

Cheesy and creamy Au Gratin is one of my favorite dishes when it comes to multi-cuisine food.

Au Gratin has its origin in French cuisine and is usually prepared in a shallow dish. It is baked or cooked under an over head grill or broiler to form a golden crust on top and is traditionally served in its baking dish.

Oops... Am I not indulging on a lot of fat these days!!! :( Got to watch my waist line!! Oh.. come on its after all yummy food and why resist on them for such reasons. Indulge sinfully and work out sincerely to keep yourself fit. Waaa What a Gyan!! :P

Ingredients:

Spinach chopped (palak) – 1 cup
Sweet corn kernels – 1 cup
Garlic – 2 pods
Onion – 1
Olive oil – 2 tsp
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Oregano powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt – for taste
Mozzarella Cheese – 3/4 cup

For white sauce:

All purpose flour (Maida) – 4 tbsp
Butter – 4 tbsp
Milk – 3 cups

Method:

To make white sauce - Dilute the maida in milk and mix it thoroughly without lumps. Melt the butter in a pan. Simmer the stove, pour in the diluted milk mixture and stir continuously until the sauce thickens. Finally add salt and mix well.

Chop onion and garlic finely. Steam the corn and remove kernels.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté till they turn light brown.
Add the chopped spinach and corn and cook on medium flame for 4 to 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper and oregano and mix well. Now add the white sauce and cook for 5 minutes.

Transfer this to a baking dish and sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top and grill in an oven till the cheese melts down.

Corn and Spinach Au Gratin is ready :)

Serve hot and enjoy eating :)

Tips:

You can use mashed potato instead of corn.

You can grill the Au Gratin a little more until the cheese slightly browns on top. It gives a rustic flavor.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Fusilli Pasta with Neapolitan Tomato Sauce

2011-09-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

Pasta is one of my most favorite Italian dish and I enjoy all forms and shapes of them :) Be it with a white sauce or a tomato base, they are just yummy!! :)

Neapolitan sauce is also known as Marinara sauce in the US and is a quick version of tomato based sauce which goes really well with pastas. The flavor of basil would make it simply delicious :)

The addition of colorful and healthy veggies make it more interesting and yummilicious :)

Ingredients:

Fusilli pasta - 2 cups
Broccoli
Green bell pepper - 1/2
Yellow bell pepper - 1/2
Red bell pepper - 1/2
Tomatoes - 6
Garlic - 3 pods
Paprika - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Chilly flakes - for taste(optional)
Basil herb - 1 tsp (or use 1/2 cup fresh basil)
Salt - for taste
Olive oil
Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup

Method:

Heat 4 cups of water with a tsp of salt in a pan and add the pasta to it. Boil until the pasta is well cooked. Drain the pasta and rinse in fresh cold water. Keep aside.

Choose well ripen tomatoes. Make slits in the tomatoes and blanch them in hot water for 3 mins. Peel the tomatoes, discard their skin, remove seeds and puree them.

Split the broccoli florets and blanch them in hot water for three mins. Drain and keep aside.

Chop garlic finely. Dice bell peppers into small cubes.

Take 3 tsps of olive oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic. Add the bell peppers and fry for two mins. Pour in the tomato puree and add the basil, pepper powder, paprika, chilly flakes and salt to it. Allow this to boil until the sauce becomes thick. Add the broccoli and give a stir. To this add the cooked pasta and grated cheese. Toss gently and serve hot :)

Enjoy the mouth watering fusilli pasta :)

Tips:

Adding vegetables is purely optional. You can keep it simple with just the tomato sauce base.

You can grate some cheese on top and microwave it for few mins before serving for a cheesy pasta :) oops sinful pasta!! :P

I bet you would lick your plate clean :P

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Tender Coconut Soup

2011-09-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Tender coconut in soup!!!! Yup, I came up with this idea when I was craving for a soup this afternoon :) The flavor is evident and different from a clear soup.

This soup has natural sweetness of tender coconut water and the chunks of veggies and tender coconut make it so delicious and filling. I bet you would love it! :)

Ingredients:

Tender coconut (Elani) - 2
Carrot - 1
Garlic - 2 pods
Ginger - small piece
Corn flour - 2 tblsp
White pepper powder - for taste
Salt - for taste
Coriander leaves

Method:

Break open the tender coconut and collect the water in a cup.

Scrap out the tender coconut and dice them into small squares and keep it aside.

Peel and dice carrot into small cubes. Chop garlic and ginger finely too.

Take a tsp of oil in a pan and drop in the chopped ginger, garlic and carrot pieces and fry for a min. Sprinkle some water and close the pan with a lid for the vegetables to get cooked. Once done, pour in the tender coconut water and allow it to boil.

Take the corn flour in a small bowl and dilute it with 2 tblsp of water.

Pour the diluted corn flour syrup to the boiling soup while stirring continuously. Simmer the flame and allow it to boil for few more mins. Add salt and the reserved tender coconut squares to the soup and give a stir.

Sprinkle white pepper and finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy a very different soup :)

Tips:

Add the coconut pieces only after removing the soup from flame.

You can add more veggies like beans etc to the soup.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Walnut Coffee Frappe

2011-09-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

Monday morning drink and the post of the day are the key factors that make my week going. I need a perfect start to keep myself pepped up for the week ahead :)

There were loads of recipes running in my mind this morning and I had enough josh to try something new, but then my pantry was almost empty with just few ingredients :( I did some mind cooking with the ingredients that were available and came up with this super duper delicious cold coffee frappe :) All thanks to Mocha's menu that had such exotic combinations :)

I'm sure you would lick the glass just as I did :P

Ingredients:

Walnuts - 7
Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp
Chocolate chips - 2 tsp
Vanilla ice cream - 2 scoops
Milk - 1 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Honey - 3 tsp

Method:

Drop the walnuts in the blender and powder it finely.

Add milk, chocolate chips, vanilla ice cream, vanilla essence, instant coffee powder and honey to it and blend well until creamy and smooth.

Serve chill topped with a dollop of fresh cream and chocolate sprinkles.

Slurp!!! enjoy :)

Tips:

Skip milk to make the frappe thicker and rich.

Add more of coffee powder for stronger flavor.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Five Lakh Hits - A Surprise Celebration!

2011-09-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm excited, happy, proud and thankful to announce that my little passion - "4th Sense Cooking" has reached the mark of 500000 hits!! :)

The more number of zeros, the more the bliss is!! :)

I'm still a kid at the kitchen anxiously waiting to taste the experiments that I make and jump in joy when it is a success and cry over it when it fails. But my parents, blogger buddies, friends and visitors have never missed to encourage me on any day. What more can I ask for?!!

I would like to take this occasion to wholeheartedly thank all of you who have been here and have motivated me to go on with my passion :) Thank you so much :)

My little blog reached the big number last day. The realization was even more exciting since it was announced to me by my beloved fiance :) The celebration dint stop with wishes, but came in the form of a beautiful surprise, I mean a 'BEAUTIFUL' cake in the night to mark the day as one of the most memorable one :)

I sincerely thank God for have blessed me with a person who supports, encourages, motivates, shares happiness and makes me feel special :) A BIG thanks to AJ for what you are to me this day :)

Blush! Blush! It also marks a month of courtship days :P

Balloon Vine Pancake / Mudaikathan Keerai Dosa

2011-09-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

Its a well known fact that food acts as medicine and its important to include ingredients such as greens in our weekly diet plans to keep fit.

Balloon Vine / Mudaikathan keerai is one such greens which is absolutely healthy and is proved to cure joint pains.

I still remember the childhood days when we used to pick these greens and pop the balloon seeds on each others forehead and play :P This time I picked up some greens fresh from the garden when I visited my native a couple of weeks back and tried to make green pancakes with them. They looked pretty attractive and were tasty too. So here is yet again a healthy dish from my kitchen for you all :)

Ingredients:

Balloon Vine greens / Mudaikathan Keerai - 2 cups
Par boiled rice - 2 cups
Green chillies - 3
Curd - 1 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak rice in water for atleast two hours.

Clean the greens and measure two cups full.

Grind soaked rice along with greens, chillies, curd and salt into a fine batter.

Allow this batter to ferment over night.

Add enough water to the batter to make it into pouring consistency(just like rava dosa batter). Heat the skillet and pour a ladle full of batter starting from the edges in a circular way. Since the batter is loose it will automatically fill the middle portion. Add a spoon of oil to roast it. Turn the dosa and roast it on the other side too.

Serve hot with garlic or onion chutney.

Enjoy making a healthy dish :)

Tips:

Click here for recipe of Garlic chutney and Onion chutney.

Use metal skillet for such dosas since non stick will not allow it to spread much.

You can replace the green with other varieties too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Unni Appam - Onam Special

2011-09-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

Wish you all a very happy Onam! :)

Hope you all had a great celebration this year!!

Oops!! sorry, I'm a bit late to post it this time. Blame the painting work going on at home. Its leaving me helpless. Making a dish was not a hard task, but clicking pictures of it was a super hard task with lots of men at work and dust flying all over the house. Anyways I'm happy to squeeze in a post to celebrate the occasion :)

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 2 cups
Maida - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 1/4 cup
Water - 1 cup
Banana - 2
Cooking soda - A pinch

Method:

Take the rice flour, maida and Cooking soda in a large bowl.

Heat half a cup of water in a pan and add the jaggery to it. Mix well until the jaggery melts completely. Filter this to remove dirt. Pour this into the rice flour mixture and mix well.

Grind the bananas into a smooth paste by adding half a cup of water and add this to the above mixture too and mix until it forms a smooth batter. The consistency should be a little thicker than dosa batter.

Keep the batter untouched for 4 hours.

Heat the unni appam pan and grease the holes generously with oil. When the pan reaches moderate heat, spoon in the batter into the holes. When it gets roasted, scoop the appam with a spoon and turn it around and apply some ghee on top. Once it is roasted on all sides collect it on to the serving bowl.

Enjoy eating delicious unni appam :)

Tips:

The color of the appam depends on the jaggery color. Use dark ones for best results.

The banana would give it a distinct flavor. But you can skip it and use cardamom flavoring too.

The cooking soda is added for making the appam a little soft. If you prefer firmer appam, then you can very well skip it.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Vanilla Pannacotta With Pomegranate Sauce

2011-09-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

I'm being a busy bee lately!! oops its a little too much of work these days but I'm enjoying it :)

Pannacotta is an Italian delicacy which is just as yummy as possible. People who love jelly based puddings would go crazy for this for sure.

I took a break from other work and made this dessert last evening. After a couple of fumbles in the kitchen last week, I really had no patience to experiment much. So choose this recipe from Ria's collection and just made it as it is.

I dedicate this red heart dessert to my dear dessert lover to be hubby :)

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup
Heavy Cream - 1 cup
Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup
Gelatin - 3 tsp
Cold Water - 2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

For sauce:

Pomegranate - 1
Sugar - 1 tblsp
Corn flour - 2 tsp
Water - 1 tblsp

Method:

Vanilla Pannacotta:

Pour in the milk,cream & sugar in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Remove it from flame.

Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water and let it bloom for 5 mins. Melt it in the microwave oven for 20 seconds. Remove and stir well.

Add the vanilla extract and melted gelatin into the milk and cream mixture and stir well.
Pour into desired moulds and let it set in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.

For Pomegranate Sauce:

Pulse the pomegranate seeds in the mixie and extract juice. Filter it completely to remove seeds.

Take the juice and sugar in a sauce pan and heat it on low flame.

Dilute the cornstarch in water and add it to the pan and cook on low flame until it thickens slightly.

Take off the flame and let it cool completely.

Demould the pannacotta on the serving plate and top it with pomegranate sauce and pomegranate seeds.

Enjoy eating a delicious and beautiful looking dessert.

Tips:

You can mix in some melted gelatin to the pomegranate sauce and set it on top of the dessert too.

Set it in a glass and serve it chill.

Use other seasonal fruits as topping too.

Lick lick lick the spoon!! yummy dessert to finish off any meal :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Food Photography - Background and Properties

2011-09-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hi All!!!

After all your encouragement and appreciation on my food presentation and photography skills, I wanted to share my little thoughts and secrets on how I go about doing it :)

Fortunately a month back Lubna of "Yummy Food" asked me to do a guest post on her blog very much on my favorite topic being "colors and backgrounds used for food presentation". I grabbed the opportunity and did the post for her.

On friendly demand and for the sake of records, I'm reposting it here for people who missed to go through :)

Here it goes....

I always believe that colors have the ability to bring a canvas to life. I enjoy playing with colors in my photographs.

Background

Background of an image is as important as the foreground or the subject as such. The dish that you make gets really highlighted only when the background is supportive and pretty.

There are various items that you can choose as backgrounds for you photograph

Colored charts
Hand made papers
Wall papers
Planks of wood roughly painted
Colorful napkins
Gift wrappers
A dining table as such
or even a simple Dhupatta or saree can do wonders to your photographs.

Colored charts that I use as background

Properties

A wonderfully cooked up curry which tastes amazing could look absolutely unappealing when presented in a cooker that it was made!!!(excuse exceptions) That is not what you want right??!!

Its not just the dish that gets one's attention to the pic. It could even be the serving bowl, or the flowers used at the background or even a simple napkin could grab the attention. So do concentrate on all the properties on the setup to make it a beautiful pic on the whole.

I choose colorful bowls and plates that suit the dish and highlight it very well. Plastics, ceramics or glass!! what ever they are made of have their own attraction quotient definitely :)

Flowers never fail to make us smile :) Choose pretty flowers that compliment your dish as backdrops.

Now comes the most important and interesting part of the post - factors that help us choose the best backdrops and settings.

I go by following simple rules of colors or color theories that help us choose the best schemes that pleases our eyes.

Monochromatic Color Scheme:

Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base color and extended using its shades, tones and tints.

Using one single color in the picture from its lightest shade to the darkest can keep the focus on the subject color and would register in the viewers mind easily.

Simply go ahead choosing background and properties of the same color of the dish :)

Example:

I have used only shades of yellow as the main color and have extend to its lightest shade being white in mango yoghurt parfait picture below.

Complementary Color Scheme:

Complimentary colors are colors that are opposite to each other on the color wheel.

Complementary color schemes have a more energetic feel. The extreme contrast between the colors creates a vibrant and fresh look.

Example:

I have used Purple and Orange as prominent colors which are complimentary to each other and highlight the picture.

The vibrancy is phenomenal when such opposite colors are used.

Analogous color scheme:

Analogous colors are colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Analogous color schemes are pleasing to the eye. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable photographs.

Example:

I have used Yellow, Orange and Green in this picture that blends well and gives a pleasing effect.

Bi-Color and Tri-Color:

Restricting the number of colors in a picture to two or three result in extremely pleasing pictures.

Example:

I have kept it simple and classic by choosing background and properties of just two colors(yellow and brown) in the first pic and three colors(Yellow, pink and green) in the second photograph.

Apart from having such colored backgrounds you could simply choose to have nature as the background at times too. The photos give a very pleasing and homely appearance when they are shot next to a window :)

Example:

The apple tea photograph below was shot next to a large window. The blurred trees at the backdrop give it a nice tropical look isn't it?!!!

Saying all that, we can also have simple vegetable or fruit carvings as our properties too.

Use the prominent veggi or fruit used in the dish to carve out simple flowers or creatures and place them next to the dish. You would score extra points for this from your viewer :) It shows your creativity and also enhances the presentation factor of the picture.

Example:

I have carved out frogs from green bell peppers and used it as a property to decorate my Bell pepper rice.

The aim of food photography is to make people drool, so keep clicking photographs with different backgrounds and settings until you reach your goal :)

Food photography involves a huge scope of creativity and I have realized it in the two years I have been blogging. The best way to learn is to try and keep on trying different things.

Enjoy clicking :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Figs & Banana Smoothie

2011-08-31T02:08:00.000-07:00

Dad and I love figs for their crunchy texture :) We rarely share a similarity in taste, so this being a common one I though of making a smoothie with it and having a cheers with dad ;)

My dad's reaction to my food has always been on a super dooper positive note. No wonder fathers love what their kids make and so is my dad too!!! But still honestly speaking, he being a pro in the kitchen always gives me a unbiased report on my dishes :) And he loved this smoothie. Do I need to say more!! ;)

Ingredients:

Dry Figs - 10
Banana - 2
Milk - 2 cups
Light caramel syrup - 2 tblsp
Honey - for taste

Method:

Chop dry figs roughly. Sprinkle few drops of water over it and microwave it for just a minute. This will make the fruit soft. Allow it to cool down.

Peel and dice banana roughly.

Blend the figs along with banana, cold milk, light caramel syrup and honey.

Serve chill :)

Enjoy a crunchy and yummy smoothie that would make your tummy smile :)

To make light caramel syrup:

Take 2 tblsp of sugar in a dry pan and allow it to melt on low flame. Once it melts completely and turns light brown, immediately pour in half a cup of water and mix well. The resulting syrup would be golden brown in color.

Add this to your smoothies for a bitter sweet taste :)

Tips:

Replace fresh figs in the place of dry figs.

Use sugar for sweetening.

Blend along a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a rich smoothie.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Cabbage Kootu / Sambhar

2011-08-29T00:47:00.000-07:00

Though I love hogging on dishes from various cuisines, I'm pretty biased towards Indian flavors and enjoy eating home food more than anything. Most of you would agree to me and share the same feeling too!! :)

This cabbage kootu or sambhar is one of my most favorite recipes from my mom's collection and I remember enjoying it since childhood. Not sure if it is a common recipe to all, yet it definitely demands a place in my blog for its amazing taste and flavor.

Ingredients:

Cabbage (shredded) - 2 cups
Carrots - 2
Tomatoes - 2
Onion - 1
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Red chillies - 5
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Thoor dhall - 1/2 cup
Tamarind past - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste
Mustard - for tempering
Curry leaves

Method:

Pressure cook the thoor dhall until soft and mushy.

Chop cabbage, carrot and onion. Dice tomatoes into cubes.

Grind the coconut, red chillies and cumin seeds into a fine paste by adding a little water to it.

Take a pressure pan and drop in the cooked dhall, shredded cabbage, onion, tomato, ground coconut paste, tamarind paste, hing and salt. Pressure cook until two whistles.

Transfer to the serving bowl and temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Hot and yummy cabbage kootu is ready. Serve it with rice and chips. It also goes well with Idly and Dosa.

Enjoy having a typical south Indian meal :)

Tips:

You can replace cabbage with snake gourd, raw tomatoes(green ones) and chow chow too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Fenugreek Pancakes / Vendhaya Dosa

2011-08-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yupeee!! It looks like I have changed from being a sinful eater to sensible foodie ;) My previous post and this post are super healthy recipes that can make a lot of difference to my diet plans.

Ouch!! but its not going to take long before I get tempted to bake or cook some high calorie food, so enjoy this momentary conscious cook's recipes :)

Fenugreek has various benefits and is said to be good for diabetic people and it has also been used to treat arthritis, asthma, bronchitis, improve digestion, maintain a healthy metabolism, increase libido and male potency, cure skin problems (wounds, rashes and boils), treat sore throat, and cure acid reflux too.

When a small spice or herb can do so much, then why not use them in everyday cooking!! :)

I bet it dint even have a hint of bitterness. Trust me and go ahead trying :)

Ingredients:

Par-boiled rice - 2 cups
Urad dhall - 1/4 cup
Sprouted fenugreek(vendhayam/menthulu) - 1/4 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak the fenugreek seeds in water for 8 hours and drain the water. Close the bowl with the lid and leave it for a day or two for it to sprout nicely.

Soak par boiled rice and urad dhall in water over night.

Grind the soaked urad dhall and sprouted fenugreek together into a fine batter. Follow it by grinding the soaked rice into a smooth batter too. Pour both the batter and add enough salt to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Close with lid and leave it untouched for minimum of 5 hours to max of a night to ferment.

Whip the batter ones and make small pan cakes on the hot skillet and roast it on both the sides by adding few drops of oil or ghee.

Serve it hot with Onion chutney.

Super soft and healthy fenugreek dosa is ready. Enjoy making healthy food :)

Tips:

Sprouted grams have more nutritional value which makes this dosa very healthy.

You can add some freshly ground pepper corns to make the pan cakes spicy too.

Grind the dhall along with few red chillies to make spicy version.

Soak the fenugreek seeds in drinking water and strain the water into a bottle and use it for drinking. The water carries a lot of minerals too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Apple Oats Smoothie

2011-08-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

Coffee and tea are a no no to our family and I'm a smoothie person. Someone who craves and day dreams of deadly combinations of ingredients for my smoothie :P

While a random blog hopping session I found this recipe on Priya's blog and since then wanted to try it out. Made this yummy tummy filling smoothie for breakfast a few days back and OMG!! I can still imagine the taste in my tongue. Loved it loads :)

Ingredients:

Apples - 2
Rolled Oats - 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cups
Honey - 1 tsp
Sugar - for taste
Nuts - for topping

Method:

Wash, peel and chop the apples roughly. Blend it along with oats, milk, sugar and honey into thick smoothie. Adjust the consistency of the smoothie according to your preference by adding adequate milk.

Serve immediately and enjoy drinking :)

Tips:

Choose the pink skinner gala apples or green skinned Granny smith apples for milk shakes. They don't turn brown soon.

Since we use rolled oats it doesn't give an uncooked feeling. Go ahead without inhibition.

Use honey or sugar replacements for a healthier and diet version of smoothie.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Krishna Jayanthi Celebration 2011

2011-08-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to Lord Krishna!! :)

&

Wish you all a very happy Krishna Jayanthi :)

Krishna Jayanthi is always celebrated with pomp and joy at home and this year is no different. After a super tiring and eventful week, we just planned to celebrate it simple and mom solely made all the snacks last morning.

Mom sweet mom, is an expert at cooking and she can make things sound so simple. She took just two hours to make four varieties of snacks and gave me a surprise when I was back from outing.

I totally missed the chance to help her out this year but then wanted these to be part of my blog since they are the traditional snacks that mom makes for ages. Her recipes for these are flawless and trust worthy :)

Luv you mom for making them all for Lord Krishna and which in turn is for me :P

I had posted the Maida sweet seedai earlier. Refer to the recipe here.

You can take a peep into my previous celebrations here - 2009 and 2010.

Spicy Seedai / Spicy Maida balls

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 cup
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Cooking soda - a pinch
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Sesame - 1 tsp
Salt - for taste
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

Take a square piece of muslin cloth and pour in the maida in the center and tie it up tightly. Take a pressure cooker and pour in 1 cup of water and place a ring or invert a cup. Place the tied up maida on a plate and leave the plate into the cooker and close the lid. Let this get cooked for 15 mins. You dont have to put the weights. This process will remove the gluten from the flour.

Once done open up the cloth and allow it to dry for a while. Sieve the four and add asafoetida, salt, pepper powder, lemon juice, cooking soda and sesame to it and mix well by sprinkling just enough water to bring it together.

Pinch small portions of the dough and roll it into small balls. Let this dry on a plate for atleast 10 mins and then deep fry it until golden brown.

Spicy and tangy seedai is done :)

Enjoying popping them into your mouth while watching tv ;)

Manupuvu / Rice flour Murukku

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/4 cup
Roasted gram(Pottu kadalai) - 1/4 cup
Salt - for taste
Ghee - 1/2 tsp
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

Boil water by adding the salt and ghee to it. Once it starts to boil, simmer the flame and add the rice flour in one go while stirring. Stir quickly for few more minutes so that lumps don't form.

Remove from flame and keep the bowl closed for 1o mins.

Powder the roasted gram into finely and sieve it.

Now add the roasted gram flour to the prepared rice flour mixture and kneed well until smooth. If the dough is dry simply sprinkle some water and kneed again.

Fill this in the murukku maker and draw circles with it on a butter paper.

You can use the plate with square holes or star holes to make this murukku.

Heat oil for deep frying and carefully remove the murukku from the paper and drop it into the oil and fry till roast. This murukku wouldn't turn brown so remove them once the oil stops bubbling.

Yummy manupuvu is ready :)

Thean Kuzhal / Spiced rice flour Murukku

Method:

Refer to the ingredients above and include 2 tsp of chilly powder and 1 tsp of sesame seeds to it and follow the same process to make the murukku.

The plate used in the murukku maker for this murukku would have just four plain holes.

Enjoy making Thean Kuzhal :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Bread Upma

2011-08-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

Its almost a week since I posted anything or even cooked!! Have been enjoying a lot of pampering session from parents and relatives :) But don't ask me why?!!!! Shhhhhhh its a secret ;)

So here is a post that has been there in my draft for long and demands some attention.

Bread is something that we always keep stock of at home and is used on occasions when we need a quick and delicious dish. This was made on one such super boring but hungry morning when I just wanted to quickly mix up something and enjoy a plate full. Burrrrrb!!!! :P

Ingredients:

Bread - 10 slices
Tomatoes - 2
Tomato ketchup - 2 tblsp
Onion - 2
Spring onion (chopped) - 1/2 cup
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tblsp
Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
Salt - for taste

Method:

Dice the bread slices into medium sized cubes. Saute it on a flat pan by adding some ghee until the bread gets roasted to light brown.

Chop onions finely and keep it aside.

Puree the tomatoes.

Take a pan and add few tsps of oil. Drop in the chopped onions and fry until golden brown. Add the tomato puree, tomato ketchup, chilly powder, garam masala and salt to it and allow it to boil for a while. Simmer the stove and add the lemon juice to it and mix well.

Now toss in the roasted bread squares and give a quick stir. Once the bread gets coated with the gravy, switch off the flame and sprinkle chopped spring onions.

Serve hot and enjoy eating :)

Tips:

Choose sandwich or salted bread to make this.

You can add chopped bell peppers(capsicum) along with onion and saute it too.

Grated carrots can make a great addition to the dish as well.

Sprinkle some coriander leaves if you don't find spring onions.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Custard Apple Icecream & Milk Shake

2011-08-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have never been a fussy eater when it comes to fruits. Till date I have never disliked any fruit. Touch wood!! :) May be its because I have a sweet tooth ;)

Its custard apple season now and I'm enjoying every bit of it :) Had it as it is, made milk shake and now comes my custard apple ice cream :)

Only few fruits like mango, guava, orange and custard apple give out a distinct aroma and keep reminding of its presence. And when that smell and flavor is captured in an ice cream, it really feels magical :)

I adapted this recipe from here during a random googling session and made changes according to my taste buds :)

The use of Marie biscuits as thickening agent is just an amazing thought and I totally loved the taste. Everyone at home enjoyed it a lot as well :)

Ingredients:

Custard apple (Seetha Pazham) - 5
Milk - 1 cup
Marie biscuit - 4
Whipping cream - 1/2 cup
Sugar - for taste

Method:

Wash and open the custard apple.

Scoop out the flesh with seeds and put them in the mixer jar along with 1/4 cup of milk. Pulse for a few times. The flesh would separate from the seeds. Pass it through a sieve with big holes or pick out the seeds manually. You would get a thick pulp of custard apple.

Pour the pulp in the mixer jar along with the remaining milk, sugar and whipping cream. Break the marie biscuit into small pieces and add it to the mixer too. Now blend until smooth paste.

Collect it in a freezer proof box and allow it to chill in the freezer for 4 hours.

Remove it from freezer and whip the mixture again in your mixer for few minutes and put it back in the freezer for one hour. Repeat the process for two more times in one hour interval each time.

Place scoops of custard apple ice cream in the serving bowl and drizzle with some honey and chocolate chips :)

Super delicious custard apple ice cream is ready :)

This quantity would make 5 scoops of ice cream.

Tips:

The quantity of sugar added depends on the sweetness of the fruit. So taste test it before adding sugar.

Whipping the ice cream in blender for three times is mandatory to get creamy and soft ice cream.

Top the ice cream with nuts for a extra richness.

Custard Apple Milk Shake:

Ingredients:

Custard apple - 1
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - for taste
Honey for topping

Method:

Extract custard apple pulp as said in the above procedure.

Blend it along with milk and sugar.

Top it with honey and serve chill.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Musiri / Dry Pongal

2011-08-09T01:50:00.000-07:00

During the days when we get back from long trips or tours, we would always prefer to have harmless and simple home food. For example, feeding on something like milagu rasam and potato curry would feel like a five star lunch menu :) It happens because nothing on earth is equalant to home made food. Delicious to taste and easy to digest.

One such simple recipe to make in a giffy and that sooth our tummy is this musiri or dry pongal. Not sure how it got its name. May be it was famous in the place called 'Musiri' down south :)

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Moong dhall - 1/3 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 4
Curry leaves - few
Coconut scrapped - 1 tblsp
Salt - for taste
Water - 3 cups

Method:

Dry roast the rice and moong dhall separately and collect it in a large bowl.

Take 2 tsps of oil in a pan and temper with mustard, cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
Add this to the rice and moong dhall mixture along with salt and scrapped coconut. Now pour in 3 cups of water and steam cook like rice. Approximately 3 whistles.

Allow it to come to room temperature and then stir once before serving.

Serve with banana chips or pickle of your choice.

Delicious musiri or dry pongal is ready :)

Enjoy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Friendshipday Special - Vanilla Cookies

2011-08-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

Wish all my readers and friends a very very Happy Friendship Day :)

Friendship day memories are the most sweetest among the treasured memories of school and college days.

I still remember, the day before friendship day would be a busy one for me. Shopping friendship bands for the dear ones, hand crafting special bands for the close buddies and cutting out simple satin ribbon bands for the not so favorite friends :P The pleasure and the smile from the friends for this gesture would be priceless. Though friendship is not something that has to be celebrated for just one day, it still matters, because we just need a day to express it all.

School life were the days when I used to feel so proud while returning home with wrist full of friendship bands :) Why not?!! I had such a huge list of friends who bothered to let me know how they feel about me :)

Now days have changed or say we have grown up a little that we just make calls to wish friends and try to meet up for a coffee. More polished and matured way of celebration isn't it?! :)

This year I wanted to celebrate it with you all too since your support has motivated me to blog so much :)

Fortunately my hits have crossed a big number 4,00,000 today and it would be apt to celebrate the day with pomp and joy with all my blog viewers :)

Here is my simple vanilla cookies dressed up like you and me holding hands :) Thank you so much for your support :) I dedicate this post to you all :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(maida) - 100 gms
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted Butter - 50 gms
Powdered sugar - 50 gms
Vanilla essence - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch

Method:

Sieve all purpose flour, baking powder and cooking soda together and keep it aside.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in vanilla essence, salt and mix well.

Add the flour and soda mixture and mix with hands into a soft dough. Wrap it with cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Remove the dough from refrigerator. Sprinkle some All purpose flour on your working surface and roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.

Use your cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

Place the cut out cookies on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. Watching closely so that they don’t get too brown. 13 minutes did it perfectly in my convection oven.

Let the cookies cool on wire rack for a while. Initially the cookies might feel a little soft and crumbly to touch but it will harden as it cools down.

Store in air tight containers.

Light, crumbly and melt in the mouth vanilla cookies is ready to eat :)

This quantity would make around 15-20 cookies depending on the size that you make.

For icing:

Ingredients:

Icing sugar
Water
Food colors

Method:

Take some icing sugar in a cup and just add few drops of water to it and mix well until it is smooth. It should be in flowing consistency which is thick enough to pipe. Divide this into portions and mix in food colors to it.

Fill them in plastic cones and pipe them on your cookies as you like. Allow this to dry for an hour on wire rack.

The icing would harden up and give a beautiful look to your cookies :)

Tips:

I dint have the ginger bread man cookie cutter to cut this out. But never mind, I simply drew the figure on a paper and cut it out cleanly. Kept it on the rolled dough and cut out the outline using a knife. It is definitely a little tedious, but worth in times of emergency :)

You can simply sprinkle some sugar on top of the cookies, press it a little and bake them to make sugar cookies.

Mix in some powdered food color to the granulated sugar and sprinkle to give it a colorful look.

You can pack individual cookies in plastic covers and gift them to your friends ;)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Guava Spritzer

2011-08-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

The smell of guavas are irresistibly sweet and I can easily sniff its presence even if it is meters away from me ;)

I simply love the fruit, but then I'm pretty specific of its ripeness. I enjoy them much more when they are absolutely yellow, well ripen and soft to bite :)

Its an enjoyable fruit as it is, but imagine making a stunning drink with it for the evening thirst and having it with some chit chat on the side!! Isn't it tempting enough?! :)

Can you notice the small bubbles flying on top of the aerated drink? ;)

Found this recipe on Tarladala using pink guavas and immediately got inspired to make it at home :)

And of course my version of Spritzer doesn't have wine :)

Ingredients:

Guava fruit - 2
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Sugar - for taste S
Soda

Method:

Chop guava roughly. Peel and chop ginger.

Grind guava pieces and ginger pieces by adding just a little water. Pass through a sieve to remove the seeds cleanly. Add sugar and lemon juice to it and mix thoroughly.

Sterilize a bottle and collect the guava syrup in it.

Pour 1/2 of the serving glass with this guava syrup and top it with chilled soda. Stir well and serve immediately.

You can preserve the guava syrup upto a week in the refrigerator.

Enjoy the chill guava spritzer :)

Tips:

Use pink guava for a beautiful pink spritzer.

Replace sugar with honey.

Remember to choose ripe fruits for making this.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Chocolate Truffles

2011-08-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

I would have claimed a million times so far. Yup! I am a Chocoholic and would go crazy for anything chocolatey. When it is so, wouldn't soft and melt in the mouth kind of rich chocolate truffles satisfy my craving!! All smiles :) :) I can hear a big "YES" from all my chocoholic readers who can read my mind as well :P

I had some cream and chocolate in my pantry and a deep craving for truffles. What more??!! Made them in a jiffy, but the refrigeration time was killing. Had to wait for a while before I could lick my fingers ;)

Here it is for you all to enjoy visually and a perfect teaser for chocoholics :P

Ingredients:

Cooking chocolate(bittersweet / dark) - 200 gms
Heavy whipping cream - 75 gms
Unsalted butter - 2 tblsp
Cocoa powder - for dusting
Caster sugar - for dusting
Pistachios
Chocolate vermicelli

Method:

Coarsely chop the chocolate and set aside.

Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan, stirring to blend. When bubbles start to form along the edges of the pan, remove from heat.

Pour it over the chopped chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate melts and blends well with the cream and butter.

Collect the chocolate into a shallow bowl. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm. This would take a minimum of two hours.

Using a tablespoon or a melon baller scoop out enough chocolate to make balls of desired size.
Roll the balls in cocoa powder and place the balls on a butter paper. Refrigerate until serving.

Its best when served at room temperature for a soft and melt in the mouth truffle.

The above said measurements would be sufficient to make 10 truffles.

Enjoying eating :)

Note:

The chocolate will be sticky. So dust your hands with cocoa powder and roll the balls quickly.

If the consistency of the chocolate truffle is a little runny, add finely crushed biscuit powder to the chocolate and mix well before making balls.

Tips:

You can use 100gms of Semi sweet chocolate and 100 gms of bitter sweet chocolate as well.

Add few drops of vanilla essence for extra flavoring.

You can also add a tsp of instant coffee powder and 1 tbsp of coffee liqueur for a difference.

Adding few drops of orange emulsion or essence can give you a delicious orange chocolate truffle.

You can roll the truffle balls in icing sugar, finely chopped pistachios and chocolate vermicelli too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Guest Post : Food Photography - Properties and Backgrounds

2011-07-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hellooooooo Blogger buddies and friends.. I'm on a happy feet dance today. My first guest post ever and it being my first post about food photography is up today :)

Pretty thrilled about how people would respond to it :)

All thanks to my super talented blog buddy Lubna of "Yummy Food" for asking me to write for her. Checkout her blog to read my post about Food photography - Backgrounds and Properties :)

Know how I go about choosing properties and background colors for my food presentation :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Oreo Expresso Shake

2011-07-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

IRRESISTIBLE!! Absolutely delicious shake I have ever enjoyed. I Was even craving for more just after I completed that large goblet ;) The goodness of chocolate and coffee in a sip was simply yummilicious to the core.

And this is what I made with the left over oreo cookies :)

Have a freaking weekend :) enjoy with a cup of oreo expresso shake :)

Ingredients:

Oreo cookies (with cream) - 2
Oreo cookies (without cream) - 3
Instant expresso powder - 1 tsp
Chocolate syrup - 1 1/2 tblsp
Milk - 1 cup
Whipped cream - for topping

Method:

Add 1 tsp of water to the instant expresso powder and dilute it.

Crush the biscuits and blend along with milk, diluted expresso and chocolate syrup until smooth.

Pour in the serving glass and top it with whipped cream and crushed oreo.

Serve chill.

Enjoy a delicious oreo drink :)

Note:

Add some vanilla ice cream while blending for extra richness :)

You can replace chocolate syrup with melted chocolate.

Skip the expresso for a super chocolatey oreo drink.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Angry Birds Cake :)

2011-07-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

Its Angry Birds fever everywhere!! :) A happy fever that spread so fast and entertained a big crowd all over the world :)

I was a victim to its addiction too and enjoyed cracking level after level :) The love for the cute game even made me create cakes on the similar lines :)

This is what I made with those plain Vanilla cupcakes :)

For those who don't know!?!

Angry Birds is a puzzle video game developed by Finland-based Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple's iOS. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, such as those using the Android Operating system, among others.

How is it played!?!

In the game, players use a Slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player.

You can play the game here - http://chrome.angrybirds.com/

How did they come up with it!?!

Initially Rovio's senior game designer Jaakko Iisalo came up with the illustration of wingless angry looking birds that impressed the team a lot and encouraged them to create a game based on the bird.

Since swine flu was popular or the papers, the designers decided to design pigs as the enemies :) so on and so forth the game has become way too popular now :)

What have I used to design the birds and pigs!?

Vanilla cup cakes - for the body
Whipped cream + food colors - for the body color
Oreo cookies (cream side) - for the eyes
Oreo cookies (creamless side) - for the eyebrows
Cadbury shots chocolate - for the eye balls
Cadbury gems - for the beak
Lego blocks - for the pigs castle

Tatadaaa!!! Angry birds cake are ready to take revenge on their enemy pigs :P

Whats next!?!

After all the yummy bird indulgence, I was left out with lots of oreo cookies(Cream less sides).

Wait to watch what I made with the left over Oreo cookies in the coming up post !! ;)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Vanilla Cup Cakes

2011-07-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

I prefer cup cakes than cakes since they are quick to make and handy too. This time made these cakes to experiment my decorating skills ;) ummmhhmm cant show them right away :P Will share the recipe first and would reveal the decorated cakes in my next post :)

This recipe is a basic vanilla cake with eggs. This recipe can be kept as the base to try out loads of variations :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 125 gms
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 100 gms
Powdered sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 2
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Lime juice - 1 tsp

Method:

Chop the butter into small cubes and drop them into the beating bowl. Add sugar in two parts and beat until fluffy.

Now add one egg at a time and beat well for each addition until well incorporated. Add vanilla essence, lime juice and mix well. Now add the milk in two parts and beat. Finally add the flour mixture and fold gently.

Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C. Line the muffin tray with liners.

Fill muffin cups upto 3/4th bake it for 20 mins at 375°F or 190°C.

Check if cooked by inserting a tooth pic in the center. Its done if the toothpick comes out clean.

Allow it to cool on a wire rack for a while.

Soft and fluffy cup cakes are ready :)

This quantity would make 8 medium sized cup cakes.

Top them with cream and decorate as you like :)

Tips:

Make this basic vanilla cake and bake them in greased and dusted trays for large cakes :)

Wait for my next post to see how these plain cup cakes were disguised!! ;)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Rose - Pom Splash

2011-07-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

My sis had visited me a couple of days back and we were having a good time together. Around mid of the day both of us got so thirsty and decided to stir up something. During the brainstorming session and a treasure hunt at my pantry we picked up random fruits and syrups which ended up in an extremely delicious drink :) And we together named it as Rose - Pom Splash :)

While imagining how to click the drink, I remembered the click that my blogger buddy Bharathy posted on FB recently and immediately tried to do something on the similar lines and ended up with a pretty red splash :) Doesn't that look so refreshing!! Yup :)

Oh No...I burnt all the energy that I gained by having the drink to clean up the entire mess after that beautiful click :P

Ingredients:

Rose syrup - 2 tblsp
Pomegranate juice - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Water
Honey

Method:

Deseed the pomegranate. Drop them into the mixie and pulse 3 to 4 times and pass it through a sieve to remove the seeds completely. The extract should be red and semi transparent.

Take a tall glass and pour in the pomegranate juice, rose syrup, lemon juice, honey and enough water to fill the glass. Mix thoroughly with a stirrer.

Drop in few ice cubes and serve chill.

Enjoy the delicious and flavorful Rose Pom splash :)

Tips:

Add soda instead of water for a fizz.

Replace honey with sugar if you like them sweeter.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Caramel Pudding / Flan

2011-07-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

I claim to be an eggetarian, but then I like them and prefer eating them only in desserts and cakes.

This is my first try using eggs in a pudding and guess what?! I totally dint feel the smell or taste of eggs in it and people at home loved it too :)

The magic is in the caramel! :) It makes the pudding simply out of the world :) Dont they look gorgeous?!! :)

Meanwhile if you prefer to skip the eggs and go simple, then peep into my buddy - Sharmilee's blog where she has posted an eggless version of Vanilla pudding right today :)

Ingredients:

For caramel :

Sugar - 20 gms
Water - 2 tblsp

For vanilla pudding :

Milk - 500 ml
Sugar - 50 gms
Eggs - 3
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Method:

For making caramel -

Take the sugar in a dry pan and leave it untouched until all the sugar melts down. Add water when the sugar starts bubbling and now simmer the flame and keep stirring until this mixture turns golden brown. Pour the prepared caramel in your moulds or ramekins and spread them all over the base and keep them aside.

For making vanilla pudding -

Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl until the sugar dissolves. Now heat the milk and just when it starts to boil, remove it from flame and add it to the egg sugar mixture and beat for few mins. Add the vanilla essence and give a whip. Pass this mixture through a sieve to remove undissolved egg white strands. Pour in the milk mixture into the prepared ramekins carefully using a ladle.

Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C.

Take a large baking pan and pour water upto 1 inch height. Now arrange the ramekins on the pan with water and leave the pan on lower rack of the oven. Bake in 375°F or 190°C for 35-45 mins.

Once done, check if it is cooked by inserting a knife. Its done if the knife comes out clean.

Allow this to cool for a while and refrigerate for an hour atleast before serving.

Run a knife around the pudding to loosen it and invert the ramekins on the serving plate.

A delicious caramel coated vanilla pudding or flan is ready :)

This quantity would make about 6-8 flans.

Enjoy whipping up a simple dessert :)

Note:

Its your choice to keep the caramel light or dark. Allow the caramel to darken more for a punch of bitterness in the pudding :)

This process of baking is nothing but like steam cooking the pudding. So you can simply do it on stove top by steaming it using a shallow pan with water and a lid too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Bombay Chutney

2011-07-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Bombay Chutney!! Yup its very much the name for this side dish that Mom or say Grandma has been making for ages. No one at home has a clue of why its called so!? If you guys know it, please give me some gyan! :)

Bombay chutney can be prepared in a jiffy with just few basic ingredients on hand and has always been handy on super boring days when I just don't feel like experimenting anything for long at the kitchen.

This pairs up so well with roti and poori and it just smells so good with the saunf flavoring :)

Ingredients:

Gram flour or chick pea flour(Besan/Kadala maavu) – 1/2 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Asafoetida(perungayam) - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Green chillies - 2
Garlic - 4 pods
Fennel(Saunf / Sombu) - 1 tsp
Cinnamon(pattai) - 1/2 inch piece
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt - for taste

Method:

Chop the onion and tomatoes into cubes and slit the chilies. Dice the garlic pods finely.

Powder the cinnamon and saunf together.

Dilute gram flour, turmeric powder and salt in the water and keep it ready.

Take two tsp of oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds, urad dhall and channa dhall. Drop in the curry leaves, chilly and fry for a min. Now add the chopped onion, tomato and garlic and fry until onion turns transparent.

Now add the ground saunf and cinnamon powder. Reduce the flame to the lowest mark and pour the gram flour water mixture while stirring continuously. Now increase the flame slightly and keep stirring until it gets cooked and becomes slightly thick and glossy.

Add chopped coriander leaves at this stage if desired and collected in the serving bowl.

Simple and quick Bombay chutney or Bombay Masala is ready to serve :)

Serve it hot with chapathi or poori.

Enjoy eating :)

Tips:

Adding veggies to this chutney is totally optional. You can add more vegetables of your choice or even skip the tomatoes and onions to make it a plain chutney.

Written by: Nithya

Send in your queries by clicking here.

Sweetcorn Mayo Sandwich

2011-07-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

In the two long years of blogging I have got a lot of exposure to new people and have made too many good friends too.

I was talking to one such super talented friend called Srivalli a couple of days back and between all the chit chats we had, she had told me about the Sandwich mela that she was planning to do on her blog. Since then, I was very interested in being a part of it and also grabbed this chance to gobble up some healthy sandwiches for breakfast :)

Mayonnaise in salads and sandwiches have always attracted me. I love its creamy texture and have always enjoyed the addition of mayo to any dish. So this time thought I should get a pack and give it a try at home :)

What is Mayonnaise?

Mayonnaise also know as mayo is a sauce. A stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and wither vinegar or lemon juice. They also have spices and herbs at times. The Lecithin in the egg yolk acts as an emulsifier. Mayonnaise is often cream in color and may range in texture from that of light running cream to thick.

This is used as a salad dressing and for sandwiches too.

I have used Vegetarian mayonnaise for my sandwich. This veg mayo is made out of edible vegetable oil, water, sugar, milk solids, lemon juice, common salt, and emulsifying and stabilizing agents. So this creamy form of dressing is very useful for making delicious sandwiches and salads and its fully vegetarian :)

I have also heard of vegan mayonnaise that has soy milk instead of milk solids. So people, just grab a bottle of mayonnaise of your choice when you visit the store next time and enjoy making yummy sandwiches :)

Brand that I used: Fun Food - Veg Mayonnaise, 310g costs Rs.75 and is available in Fresh and Spencers Daily outlets.

Ingredients:

Sweet corn(de-seeded) - 1 cup
Capsicum(bell pepper) - 1 small
Tomato - 1 large
Mayonnaise - 3 tblsp
Black pepper powder - for taste
Salt - for taste

Method:

Pressure cook corn cobs and de-seed it.

Chop capsicum and tomato into small cubes.

Take the corn and chopped veggies in a bowl and add mayonnaise, salt and pepper and give a good mix.

Keep this in the refrigerator for ten mins.

Apply butter on bread and pan roast it until golden brown.

Now sandwich it by spreading a generous amount of corn mayo and enjoy eating :)

Simple and tasty corn and mayo sandwich is ready :)

Tips:

Add veggies of your choice for the filling.

You can also toast the sandwich in a toaster.

You can also eat the corn and mayo mix just like a salad :)

I am happy to send this to Srivalli's Sandwich Mela :)

Written by: Nithya

Send in your queries by clicking here.

Aloo Paneer Toast

2011-07-13T06:03:00.000-07:00

Dint I tell you guys that I reserved some potato paneer filling for a simple recipe!!! The simple recipe that uses the filling is this toast :)

The potato paneer filling complimented bread so well and we all loved this for breakfast :)

There are just two small differences in the filling, being the addition of lemon juice and skipping the corn flour.

Anyways a recap of the Aloo paneer filling comes with this post simply for the sake of visitors who hop in directly to this post :)

Ingredients for the toast:

Bread slices
Butter
Aloo paneer filling

Ingredients for the filling:

Potato - 3
Paneer (grated) - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2
Onion - 1
Ginger - 1/4 inch piece
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Lemon juice - 1 tblsp

Method:

Boil and mash potatoes. Chop onions, ginger and chillies finely.

Take two tsps of oil in a pan and saute onions until it turns transparent. Add the chillies and ginger and saute for a min. Drop in the mashed potatoes, grated paneer, salt, turmeric powder and garam masala, mix well and cook on medium flame for 3 to 4 mins, while stirring continuously. Simmer the stove and add the lemon juice and mix well.

Aloo paneer filling is ready.

Apply butter on bread and sandwich two slices with a generous amount of aloo paneer filling. Toast them using a toaster until golden brown.

Serve it hot with ketchup.

Enjoy a simple and delicious toast :)

I am happy to send this to Srivalli's Sandwich Mela :)

Written by: Nithya

Send in your queries by clicking here.

Potato Paneer Frankies / Wraps

2011-07-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

Women love shopping! I'm no exception. During such super shopping spree sessions with friends, we have always preferred to munch on frankies for lunch or evening snack so that we dont run out of energy to roam around :P

Frankie stalls around the city have been our saviors during busy days. They are mess free, delicious and simple wraps that truly serves the purpose and easy to have them on the go.

I have made them at home a couple of times and this time wanted to make it a little more professional. Checked out around the web world and got inspirations from Tarladala's wraps, but tweaked them to my needs and tastes :)

Here comes my favorite Potato Paneer Frankies :)

Ingredients for Potato Paneer Tikki -

Potato - 3
Paneer (grated) - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2
Onion - 1
Ginger - 1/4 inch piece
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Corn flour - 1 tblsp
Oil - for roasting

Method for Potato Paneer Tikki -

Boil and mash potatoes. Chop onions, ginger and chillies finely.

Take two tsps of oil in a pan and saute onions until it turns transparent. Add the chillies and ginger and saute for a min. Drop in the mashed potatoes, grated paneer, salt, turmeric powder and garam masala, mix well and cook on medium flame for 3 to 4 mins, while stirring continuously.

Allow this mixture to come to room temperature and then sprinkle corn flour over it and mix well.

Now pinch out equal portions of the potato paneer mixture and make 2 inch oval shaped tikkis.

Roast them on both sides on a skillet by adding few drops of oil.

Potato Paneer Tikkis are ready.

Note: You can deep fry or shallow fry them instead of roasting.

If you taste the tikkis at this stage, you might have nothing left out to make the frankies :P

Ingredients required for making frankies:

Roti
Potato paneer Tikki
Onion Masala mixture
Chilly vinegar
Masala water

Method:

Onion masala mixture:

Chop one onion finely. Add some amchur powder and chaat masala to it and mix well.

Masala water:

Take 1/2 tsp of chilly powder, 1 tsp of amchur powder, a pinch of salt and 3 tblsp of water in a bowl and mix well until salt dissolves.

Chilly vinegar or Chilly lemon mixture:

Chop chilly finely and add it to 3 tsp of white vinegar or lemon juice and allow it to marinate for few hours.

Make rotis with wheat flour or maida and keep it ready.

Make the potato paneer tikkis in advance and keep it ready as well.

Assembling:

1. Place a roti on the work area and keep two oval potato tikkies in the center.
2. Sprinkle the onion masala mixture on top of the tikkis.
3. Pour a generous tsp of chilly lemon mixture on top of the tikkis.
4. Drizzle a tsp of masala water mixture on the tikkis as well.
5. Roll the roti tightly and wrap it up half way through with tissue or foil to keep it intact.
6. Serve immediately.

Enjoy the tangy and yummy homemade frankies :)

Tips:

Grate some cheese on top of the tikkis before rolling the frankie and microwave for just 30 seconds to have cheesy bite of frankie :)

Couldn't resist biting it :P

I reserved some of the yummy potato paneer filling for another dish. Wait to see what it is!! :)

I am happy to send this as an entry to "Let's Go Stuffed Series - LGSS" which is going on in Vatsala's blog - Show and tell. :)

Written by: Nithya

Send in your queries by clicking here.

Sugarcane Soup

2011-07-08T02:01:00.000-07:00

Looking for an appetizer to make your kids eat well? or are you looking out for a different soup to make??? Your search can comfortably end with this simple yet delicious Sugarcane soup :)

Sugarcane in soup!!! yup its quite different but I swear this sweet and hot soup is awesome and there is a lot of chance that you fall for it :)

I used to hate sugarcane juices since the process of extracting the juice as well as the shop which sold them used to be a bit too dirty and unhygienic. It was a no no for me always until a few months back when I found this little shop next to my place which was much better when it comes to cleanliness. The sophisticated machine juices the cane is a neat fashion and the juice is served in clean disposable paper cups :) Waaa that made me start liking sugarcane juice :)

My cousin made this soup for me when I visited my native last time and I fell in love with it :) Here it is for all of you to make and enjoy :)

In the pic - The hygienic store that sells sugarcane juice :)

Ingredients:

Sugarcane juice - 2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Lemon juice - 3 tsp
Salt - for taste
Pepper - for taste

Method:

Chop the ginger and pulse it in the mixie by adding just a tsp of water to it. Now squeeze and extract ginger juice.

Take the sugarcane juice, water and ginger extract in a pan and heat it for few mins. Just when it starts to bubble, simmer the flame and add lime juice and salt to it. Mix well and switch off the flame.

Delicious sweet and hot sugarcane soup is ready :)

Serve it hot by sprinkling pepper in top. This quantity would make 3 servings.

Enjoy making :)

Note:

Don't let the soup boil for long, this might spoil it.

Add lemon juice only after simmering the stove otherwise the soup would become bitter.

Have a lovely weekend ahead :)

Written by: Nithya

Send in your queries by clicking here.

Figs and Caramel Loaf

2011-07-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

I have been on a baking spree lately and enjoying a lot of experiments too :) One such super successful experiment that I did yesterday was to bake a cake with dried figs :)

My cousin gave a surprise visit day before and brought me a pack of dried figs from his place. Oh wow! I like them so much and just realized my taste for it :) Bling!! the next thought was to bake something using it and after a brief session of mind cooking, I came up with my own combination of a recipe :)

The cake has a mild flavor of caramel and is crunchy too. Crunchy??!! I know you guys would be wondering about it. Figs are packed with small crunchy seeds that give it a crackling texture once into the mouth :) hmmm slight similar to kiwi's texture. Ahhh now you should have got an idea of why the cake is crunchy right! ;)

Nothing is better than words of praise from parents and relatives isn't it?!! I loved all the compliments and the cake was worth to get them all for me :)

Dried figs(Atthi pazham) are easily available in India than fresh ones, so hope you guys give it a try too :)

Ingredients:

Dried figs - 15
All purpose flour(Maida) - 125 gms
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Butter - 100 gms
Powdered sugar - 100 gms
Eggs - 2
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Caramel - 2 tblsp

For Caramel -

Sugar - 2 tblsp
Water - 3 tblsp

Method:

Chop the figs into small pieces. Take them in a microwave safe bowl and add 1 tblsp of water to it. Microwave at high for exactly 1 min and keep it aside. This will make the fruit soft and perfect for the cake.

Sieve maida, baking powder and salt together and keep it aside.

For caramel:

Take a dry pan and add the sugar to it. Leave it untouched for few mins until it melts completely and starts to bubble. Simmer the stove and add the water to it and stir quickly. Allow it to cook in low flame until it becomes slightly thick.

Transfer it to another bowl immediately and allow it to cool before use. You can store this is refrigerator for a long time.

Take a beating bowl and chop in the butter into small chunks. Gradually add sugar to it and beat until light and fluffy. Now add one egg at a time and beat well. Once done, add the caramel and lemon juice to it and mix well. Now fold in the sieved flour mixture gently. Finally add the cooked figs to it and give one stir to spread it evenly.

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease the mould with butter and dust with maida.

Fill the moulds with batter upto 3/4th and bake it for 20-25 mins at 180°C. Adjust the time according to your oven settings.

Check if cooked by inserting a skewer in the center. Once done, allow it to cool on a wire rack for a while.

Cut into slices and enjoy at tea time :)

Note:

Cooking the dry figs is an important step. Adding it directly might make the fruit harder and unpleasant to chew.

You can replace dried figs with fresh figs and skip the cooking part.

You can also use dates and nuts along with this. Follow the same cooking procedure for dates too.

Tips:

You can replace caramel with vanilla as a variation.

You can add spices like cinnamon and cardamom to this cake as well.

I used the disposable aluminium packaging bowls for baking my loafs this time :) This one is simple to use and does not need greasing and dusting too :) Various sizes and shapes are easily available too. Place them on a cookie tray and then place it on your grill.

Written by: Nithya

Send in your queries by clicking here.

Pomegranate Shake

2011-07-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

Wish you all a bright morning :)

Monday blues are part of everyone's life. Its totally unavoidable and understandable too :) All that we can do to break it is to do what we like or rather simply start off the day with your favorite drink. This can definitely boost up the day and make it a bright morning :) So was mine today! :)

Made an easy breezy pomegranate shake and yup I'm on my toes. Super active to accomplish all what I planned for the day :)

Ingredients:

Pomegranate - 2 fruits
Milk - 1.5 cups
Sugar or honey - for taste
Vanilla ice cream - 1 scoop
Strawberry emulsion - few drops

Method:

Option 1 -

De-seed the pomegranate and reserve some in a bowl. Blend rest of the fruit along with milk and filter it to remove seeds. Now pour back the shake into the jar and add sugar and vanilla ice cream. Blend again and pour into serving glass. Top it with some pomegranate pearls.

Option 2 -

De-seed the pomegranate and reserve some in a bowl. Blend rest of the fruit along with milk and filter it to remove seeds. Now pour back the shake into the jar and add sugar and few drops of strawberry emulsion and blend well. Chill the shake before serving.

Enjoy healthy and tasty pomegranate shake :)

Note:

You can also pulse the pomegranate in the mixie to just get a pure extract of pomegranate juice void of seeds. Strain it well and then blend it along with milk and sugar.

Emulsion of various flavors are readily available in super markets. They are nothing but flavored essence and food coloring together.

You can use fresh strawberries instead of emulsion.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Pista Cilantro Korma

2011-06-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

Rich and creamy garvies like paneer butter masala, malai kofta etc. always have a special place in a grand dinner menu. After the love for those two, my new found love is this pista cilantro creamy korma :)

This recipe is an inspiration from Anitha Kupusamy's recipe on a tv show. I have made a lot of changes according to my taste buds, but all thanks to her for the pista cilantro idea :)

The richness of pista along with aromatic cilantro can easily steal one's heart :) I can imagine a lot of you nodding your heads for this combi ;) Get set go and give it a try :)

Ingredients:

Pista - 15
Green chillies - 2
Cilantro (coriander / Kothu malli) - 1/2 bunch
Onion - 2
Pepper - 1 tsp
Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Potatoes - 3
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder(Dhaniya powder) - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Peel, dice and cook potatoes and keep it aside.

Soak pista in water for half an hour.

Grind pista, cilantro and green chillies together into a smooth paste.

Roughly chop the onion and cook in microwave along with pepper, cinnamon and cloves until the onion turns transparent. Allow it to cool and grind into a smooth paste.

Take a pan and add few tsp of oil. Drop in the ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Now add the onion paste, pista cilantro paste, chilly powder, garam masala, coriander powder and salt and fry till the raw smell goes. Pour in just enough water to make the gravy.

Now simmer the stove and add milk or fresh cream and mix well. Finally drop in the cooked potatoes and allow it to boil for 5 mins.

Rich and creamy pista cilantro korma is ready :)

Serve hot with chapathi or roti. :)

Tips:

You can replace the potato with cubes of paneer or tofu.

You can make bread kofta or paneer kofta and add it to the gravy as well.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Mango Mood #7 - Homemade Mango Ice Cream

2011-06-29T02:28:00.000-07:00

The hidden kid in me loves icecreams a lot. The urge for icecreams has not changed even after growing up ;)

I admit that my most favorite flavor is chocolate when it comes to icecreams but I do enjoy such seasonal flavors too.

It was exciting to make icecream at home and I enjoyed the entire process. Hope you all remember my strawberry icecream which was made with custard powder too.

The challenging part was to click pics of the melting icecream. Oh my god! I really wonder why I choose to do the photoshoot at 12pm this day!! ;) Somehow managed to capture decent photographs.

I am sure all of you would have enjoyed mangoes this season just like how I did :) In fact I had a over dose of yellow this season. But I am happy to have done this lovely series with mangoes and would end it up here with this special homemade mango icecream for you all :)

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 + 1/2 cups
Sugar - 10 tsp
Custard powder(vanilla or mango flavor) - 2 1/2 tbsp
Mango puree - 1 cup

Method:

Take few spoons of milk(from the 1 cup of milk) in a small bowl and dissolve the custard powder in it. Add sugar to the remaining milk and allow it to boil. Simmer the stove and add the custard powder mixture while stirring it continuously. Once it starts thickening, remove from flame and allow it to come to room temperature.

Peel and chop mangoes roughly. Blend the pieces to make puree. Add 1/2 cup of milk along with it and blend again. Now add the above prepared custard and blend well.

Transfer to a freezer proof box and chill it in the freezer for atleast 3 hours. Then remove from freezer and blend it again in the mixie. Repeat this process after every one hour for 3 times.

Scoop out the ice cream and serve it on wafer cones or along with chopped mangoes :)

Happy making :) Enjoy eating :)

Note:

Once the custard is ready, keep stirring it until it comes to room temperature. Don't allow it to set hard. This will help in making the texture of the icecream smooth and creamy.

Use mangoes that are not too fibrous. I choose alphonso mangoes for making this icecream.

Tips:

You can add some nuts on top to make it exotic.

If you would be consuming the icecream on the same day, chop small pieces of mangoes and mix it along with the icecream before it sets to get chunks of mango in between :)

Grate some dried mango bar(Naturo mango bar) on top of the scoop for garnishing.

Enjoy the summer with a chill mango feast :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Mango Mood #6 - Mango Custard Tart

2011-06-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Tarts are one of the most beautiful looking ones among pastries. Love the versatility of this delicacy. You can make them sweet or savory, fruit or custard, chocolate or cinnamon!! Yummmm would be the only reaction for tarts :)

Mango custard tart that I made today was a super duper hit at home. It had a lovely flavor of mango with flaky and crispy base :) Totally melt in the mouth kind and I'm proudly raising my collars up today :)

I have or rather Chennai has been suffering from power cuts, low voltage and fluctuation issues for the past few days. These problems made me realize how inevitable electricity is :) Went crazy without cooking and blogging. Sigh!! Finally back with a post and hope you all enjoy the mango treat yet again :)

Ingredients:

Short crust pastry to make the tart shell
Custard
Mango
Cherries

For tart shell:

Cold Unsalted Butter - 75 gms
All purpose flour(Maida) - 300 gms (1 1/2 cups)
Powdered sugar - 45 gms (3 tbsp)
Salt - a pinch
Cold water - few spoons

For Custard:

Custard powder ( Mango flavor or vanilla flavor) - 4 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/3 cup

Method:

To make short crust pastry shell -

Sieve flour, powdered sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Chop chilled butter into small pieces and drop them into the flour mixture. Rub in the butter and flour with your fingers till it resembles fine crumbs. Now add just enough cold water to it and mix well till everything comes together into a fine dough. Do not kneed. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Roll out the dough on lightly floured surface until it is 1/4 inch thick and slightly bigger than the size of your tart pan.

Line the base of the tart pan with the rolled pastry. Press the dough at the sides of the pan slowly and then run the rolling pin once on the pan to cut off the excess dough. Chill the lined pan for 15 mins or so to minimize shrinking before baking.

Prick holes on the tart base with a fork. Now place a butter paper or foil on the pastry and arrange metal pie weights or dried beans. I filled it with rice for my blind baking.

Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C and place the tart pans on the center rack and bake for 10 mins at 190°C. Remove the weights and bake for another 10-15 mins at 200°C or until golden.

Cool the shells completely on a wire rack.

To make custard -

Take few spoons of milk in a small bowl and dissolve the custard powder in it.

Boil the remaining milk along with sugar and once the sugar dissolves, reduce the flame and add the custard mixture. Keep stirring until it thickens slightly and remove from flame.

Allow it to cool for just few mins.

Assembling the tart -

Pour the custard into the tart shells.

Cut out strips of mango and arrange them neatly on the tarts. Place few fresh cherries on top for decoration :)

Mango custard tart is ready.

Chill and serve :)

This quantity was sufficient to make one large tart base of 6" diameter and 4 small tartlets.

Note:

Blind baking is to bake the tart shells separately. You can simply place some weights on the base before baking so that it does not raise.

Chill all the ingredients before using to get flaky and crispy tarts.

Tips:

Use fruits of your choice to make this tart interesting.

Replace the custard with melted chocolate to make chocolate tart.

Enjoy making tarts :) Have a happy weekend :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Mango Mood #5 - Mango Squash

2011-06-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

How would you like to have a home made Maaza or Slice when you are back home after a trip under the scorching sun???!!!!

The thought of it makes me feel thirsty and I'm sure even you would nod your head and agree with me :)

I have been quenching my thirst with it almost ever other day. Don't you want to do it too???

Get set go to make it right away :) Simple and yummy home made mango drink all for you :)

Ingredients:

Mango pulp - 1 ltr
Water - 1 ltr
Sugar - 1.5 kgs
Pottasium Meta bisulphite (KMS)– ½ tsp
Citric acid - 2 tsp

Method:

Peel and chop mangoes roughly. Make a puree using a blender and keep it aside.

Take the sugar, citric acid and water in a pan and heat it until the sugar dissolves and it bubbles up. It should be a thin syrup.

Allow this sugar syrup to come to room temperature and then mix up the above made mango puree.

Take a tsp of warm water and dissolve the Pottasium Meta bisulphite (KMS - preservative) in it. Add it to the squash and mix it up.

Now pour the squash into sterilized bottles and store in refrigerator :)

Mango squash is ready.

To serve, fill 1/3 of serving glass with the mango squash and remaining by water. Mix up well and serve chill topped with ice cubes :)

Note:

Use disposable kitchen gloved when you do the entire process.

KMS or PMS preservative is available in super markets like Nilgiris.

Tips:

You can use this squash as dessert topping also :)

Drizzle some mango squash on vanilla ice cream and serve :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.