Strawberry yogurt ice cream

I had some strawberries resting in my refrigerater for sometime now. I was browsing for some recipes for strawberries and found some in combination with yogurt. So I thought of making it and sending it to the Siri's frozen yogurt event. It surely tasted nice, but a little tangy, I think addition of few more spoons of sugar would be better if the strawberries aren't too sweet.
I took the recipe from here.

Ingredients-
Strawberries- pureed to make 1/2 cup
yogurt- 1 cup
Gelatin - 2 tsp
milk- 3 tbspn
Sugar- 2 tbspn
salt- 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice- 11/2 tbspn
Whipped cream- 1/2 cup

Method
Soak gelatin in the milk in a cup. Set the cup in boiling water and stir till gelatin dissolves. Combine yogurt , sugar and salt. Stir in gelatin mixture. Stir in sieved strawberry puree(or crushed strawberries) and lemon juice . Chill until slightly thickened, beat until foamy. Fold in the whipped cream. Pour mixture in metal tray . Cover with foil and freeze.

Wheat cake

I am a grass , or am I a cereal or a grainI am everywhere and in almost all the foods you eat.My whole being used in many ways without restrain I offer you something which is so hard to beatI am as old as you can think of me to beThought to be originated from the land of camelsI am breakfast, lunch and dinner for all to seeOr be it desserts from cakes , pies to caramelsI am famous all over the world from east to westAs breads, flatbreads , cookies to muffinsI am v healthy and like a treasure chestFor ppl - weight conscious and its healthy kinsBuckle up and take a pen and a paperI am yellow when alive, brown when put to 'dust'Eating me makes you look so dapperNow think hard and tell me what is that grain that we all genuinely trust!!!

This was the riddle sent to me when I opted for a box in Open sesame contest. It was such fun looking for the answer to the riddle. My first answer was wrong , but with the second clue,I could guess it right. But when I looked at the riddle after I knew the correct answer, the answer seemed to be so obvious. Yes it indeed is WHEAT. How did I miss it the first time!!!!

Wheat is a staple food in our Indian diet. I decided to bake a cake with indian flavours. I used jaggery and cardamom powder and the addition of nuts and dates added to the flavour.

Ingredients-
Wheat flour- 1 cup
Jaggery- 1 cup
Oil- 1/3 cup
Eggs- 2
Cashew-5 cut into pieces
Almond- 5 cut in to pieces
Dates- 5 finely chopped
Cardamom powder- 1tsp
Rose Essence- Few drops
water- 1/2 cup

Method-
Chop the nuts and mix them with flour. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl .Add cardamom powder in it. In another mixing bowl, add jaggery and oil and mix well. Then add the eggs slowly and mix well.Then stir in the flour slowly mixing it while adding. Add rose essence and water. Mix the nuts with some flour and fold the nuts and dates in the batter.Mix gently.
Pour the batter in a greased oven safe dish and bake it in a preheated oven at 180c.
Cool and cut them into pieces. These cakes are being sent to International food league at dining hall.

Meeting up with fellow bloggers in Singapore!!!

The planning for the meeting with fellow bloggers had been going on for a long time. Lakshmi had asked me long time ago whether I would come for it. I had agreed, but with other schedules planned , I was not sure I could. I am glad I could make it. Because we met as bloggers , but returned as friends. Lakshmi has always been forward in these social activities and I would like to thank her for it. She has always helped me in blogging activities ,especially when I had started blogging.

Myself, Lakshmi, Priyanka,Vani and Priya met at a cafe in a beautiful mall called 'Vivocity' in Singapore. We chatted as if we were old friends and felt at ease with everyone. We could discuss and exchange our ideas and opinions on blogging , writing the blog, blog traffic, plagarisms, food blogs and other creative blogs etc.

And how could a food bloggers meet be complete without food. Priyanka had made lovely sandesh, which tasted so good, am going to try it soon.She has posted the recipe in her blog. I had made some chocolate cake for the foodies. I am glad you all liked them. And we had it over a nice cup of coffee enjoying the lovely ambience.

Here is a picture of my cake.

Do have a look of more photos in Priyanka's blog.

We also made our small contribution for Bri. You can see the details about it in Vani 's blog. She has a lovely yellow click too!!!

So overall we had a nice time and loads of fun in this informal meet. We are all glad we could meet despite our other activities. We left after we decided to meet again in near future and be in touch with each other always.

Chocolate chip brownies

A rich dark chocolate brownie which is ideal for a tea party or even can be served as a dessert with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
I got the basic idea for the recipe from Tarla dalal's microwave cooking. But I made it quite different from her's with the ingredients available with me and I baked it in the oven. I did not microwave it.

Ingredients-
All purpose flour- 1 cup
baking powder- 1tsp
Soda bicarb- 1/2 tsp
Chocolate chips- 1/2 cup
Cocoa powder- 2tbsp
Butter - 1/2 cup
Fine sugar- 1/4 cup
curds-1/4 cup
vanilla essence- few drops

Method-
Sift the flour, baking powder,soda ,cocoa powder and keep aside. Add soft butter and sugar and mix well till it is creamy.Add curds, essence and the flour mixture slowly. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter in a greased oven safe dish lined with a baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 for 30 minutes or till it a knife comes out clean.

Sweet paratha with coconut filling

I made this sweet parathas just for the blog events going on now. I came up with the idea after some googling and putting together 3 events . But whatever, my hubby just loved them. He was a bit disappointed as I had made only a few parathas. But wanted me to make this one frequently.

Ingredients-
Wheat flour-1 cup
Dessicated coconut-1 cup
Dates- 2 or 3 deseeded and chopped finely
kaju/Cashews- 5
Almond/Badam- 5
Fine sugar- 3/4 cup
Ghee- 1sp

Method-
Make a dough with wheat flour adding water and a little oil.
Powder the Cashews and almonds in a blender.
Add little ghee/clarified butter in a pan. Toast the coconut for sometime. Then add powdered nuts and dates.Mix well .Add the sugar and stir for sometime till everything mixes well. Make a small ball with the dough. Roll it in a circle. Spread the coconut mixture on the circle. Roll another ball into a circle and place it above this. Seal both the circles together. Heat a girdle/tava and cook the rotis till small brown spots appear on them. Flip and cook on both the sides.
So this lovely parathas goes to the following events-
1) Roti mela hosted by Srivalli
2)Sweet series by Mythreyee( this month being puran poli or sweet chapatis and rotis)
3)AFAM coconut hosted by Suganya.

And now the sweetest part is I received the "rocking girl blog award from Shuba ravikoti and Sireesha and yummy blog award from Sireesha. I am so happy and touched that you considered my blog for the award. Thanks a lot.

Carrot rice

I just love making anything with carrots. Rice with carrots is something I make quite frequently. I make so many varieties of rice each day ,but never thought of posting a single one in my blog. And now when easycrafts announced the event of rice varieties, it has given me a chance to post some of them.

Ingredients-
Basmati rice- 2 cups
Grated carrots -2
Onion- 1 chopped
garlic, ginger , green chilli paste- 2tsp
cinnamon stick-1
bay leaves- 2
Cardamom- 2
Cloves- 2
Oil- 1tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1tsp

Method-
Wash and soak the rice. Drain the water and keep it in a sieve. I make this in a pressure cooker. So add the oil in cooker pan. Add the cumin seeds and the spices. Next goes the onion and ginger garlic green chilly paste . Saute for sometime. Then add the rice and stir well. Mix in the grated carrots . Pressure cook the contents as per your requirement. Garnish with coriander.
Serve hot with raita. I loved the yellow colour which the carrots impart to the rice.
I am sending this entry to the rice variety event hosted by easycrafts.

Baba ghanouj- an eggplant dip for AWED

I found this recipe in Tarla dalal's recipe book when I was looking for something else. The lebanese cuisine does not restrict itself to just "hummus". This delicious dip made with eggplant with other seasonings such as sesame, garlic etc is very much a part of middle eastern cuisine. It is usually eaten with pita bread. It tasted really good. And I feel , people who hate eggplant can try making it this way. They may like it as the seasonings give a very different flavour to the eggplant.

Ingredients-
Eggplant- big round - 1
Tahini or sesame seed paste- 2tbspn
Garlic cloves- 2to 3
Lemon juice- 1tbspn
olive oil- 1tsp
salt- to taste
coriander- chopped finely

Method-
Broil the eggplant on a open flame (stove top) till the skin is charred. Alternatively , you can also microwave it for around 5-6 minutes till the skin blackens. Cool it and remove the skin. Puree the eggplant along with garlic. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Garnish with coriander with little olive oil on the top. Chill slightly before you serve.
To make tahini, toast 1 tbspn of sesame seeds till they turn slightly golden brown. Cool it and then grind it adding water and little vegetable oil.

This tasty dip is my entry for A Worldly Epicurean's Delight (A.W.E.D), an event started by Dhivya of culinary bazaar and this month being hosted by Siri of siri corner.

Persimmon cake

This is the first time I bought persimmons. First I thought they were tomatoes. But what were they doing in the exotic fruits section?I liked its deep orange colour and wanted to taste them. Then I googled to find about this fruit and came to know lot about them. And they could be eaten in raw or cooked form too. They are used in pies ,cakes, puddings etc. So I baked a cake with this fruit. And it tasted so good. Here's the recipe for it.

Ingredients

All purpose flour- 1 cup sifted

Baking powder- 1tsp

Baking soda- a pinch

Butter- 3 tbsp

Fine sugar- 1 1/2 cup

Egg- 3

Cinnamon powder- 1tsp

All spice powder- 1tsp

Vanilla essence- few drops

Persimmon fruit - 1 pureed

Method-

Mix sugar and softened butter well till it is creamy. Add eggs one by one and beat thoroughly. Next fold in the flour slowly and mix well. Then add the essence, cinnamon powder and all spice. Then stir in the pureed fruit and mix well. Pour the batter in a loaf pan . Preheat oven at 180c and bake for about 35 minutes and till the knife comes out clean.

And the award part, which cheered me up today was from Usha of veginspirations. She has been so kind to pass me the Good Chat Blog Award . Usha has a lovely blog with beautiful recipes. Thanks a lot usha.

I will pass on this award in my next post. Till then enjoy the cake!!!

Channa masala

This is a all time favourite at my place and I make it quite frequently. When I was looking through my recipe collection I found a recipe for channa masala/chole which was a little different from what I make usually. So this time , I made it this way.It tasted different , was very tasty had a restaurant like and authentic taste to it. This is how I made.

Ingredients-

Chickpeas/Kabuli channa- 200g

Onion- 1 big roughly chopped

tomato- 1/2 chopped(optional, not added in the original recipe, but I used half a tomato)

Garlic cloves- 2-3 Chopped

green chilli- 2chopped

Oil- 2 tbspn

Ground cumin- 1tbspn

Ground coriander- 1tbspn

Chilli powder- 1tsp

Asafoetida- a pinch

Thick plain curds- 2tbspn

Garam masala/ Chole masala- 2tbspn

Tamarind puree- 2 tsp

Lemon- 1/2

Green chillies- 3

Ground black pepper 1/4tsp

Salt- to taste

Chaat masala- optional

Onion- 1/2 sliced

ginger- small piece sliced

Coriander leaves chopped

Method-

Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. Drain the water and wash them. Add around teacups of water and pressure cook them. They should be very soft at this stage. Reserve the liquid.

Blend the onion, tomato, garlic and ginger to a paste. Heat oil in a pan and add the onion mixture and fry till it appears golden. Add cumin,coriander and chilli powder and hing,stir for a minute. Add the curds and stir for another minute. Stir in 2 tbspn of garam masala(I used everest chole masala) and pour in the reserved liquid. Bring it to a boil and simmer for sometime. Add the tamarind paste ,lemon ,whole chillies , chickpeas, pepper and salt. Cover the pan and cook for sometime till the chickpeas is coated with sauce. Discard the lemon.

Add the chat masala , onion rings, ginger and coriander.

Serve hot with pooris, bhaturas or rotis.

And yes , the award part now. Jayasree of 'Kailas kitchen' has passed me the "you make my day award." Thanks a lot Jayasree. You made my day by passing the award to me.

I would like to pass this award to pearls of east , happycook, uma ,cham, swati .

Asparagus soup

I had never bought or tried asparagus till date . Recently when I saw some delicious looking recipes made with asparagus and thought of trying them. And then , when I went to the wet market, I saw these slender, gorgeous looking asparagus and got them immediately. It was lying in my refrigerator for sometime, when finally I decided to make a soup. I took idea for the soup from these two lovely blogs and made it by making just a few minor changes.

Ingredients-
Asparagus spears- a bunch - woody edge cut and the other edge trimmed
Potato- 1 cut into pieces
Garlic- 2 cloves chopped
Onion- 1 cut into pieces
Flour- 1 tbspn
Cream- 1tbspn
Vegetable stock- 2-3 teacups
Ground nutmeg- 1tsp
Salt- to taste
pepper- acc to your taste.
olive oil- 1tsp

Method
Heat little oil in a pan. Add the garlic and onion and saute for sometime. Then add the potatoes and asparagus. Next add the flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cook till potatoes and asparagus gets tender. Add the vegetable stock and cook for some more time.
Now blend this mixture to a smooth liquid. Serve hot with a little cream on the top.

Banana fritters

This recipe was given to me by my sister. It is made with ripe bananas,the ripe ones which cannot be consumed as it is anymore. It tasted nice.
Here's the recipe.

Ingredients-
Ripe bananas- 2
Coconut - grated - 1/2 cup
sugar- 1/2 cup
Cashews- chopped fine - around 10 nos.
Almond- chopped fine- around 10 nos
Flour- 1tbspn
Oil for frying.

Method-

Steam the bananas and mash them well. You can also microwave for around 5 minutes and then mash it. Add little flour to it in case its very runny kind of.
Mix together coconut,sugar,cashews and almonds. Make a ball with the mashed bananas. Rub it over the coconut mixture, so that it is fully covered with it.
Now deep fry the bananas till they become golden in colour. Serve hot.
Alternatively, you can flatten the balls made with the mashed bananas and fill the stuffing into them ,seal and then fry.
I am sending this fritters to Mansi desai who is hosting Meeta's monthly mingle event this month.

MEME and an award!!!

Medha of cook with love had tagged me for a MEME- top 10 pictures. I am doing it after a long time. By now, most of them have done their MEME, so I am not tagging anyone in particular.

And yes now about the award, I am so excited to get this rocking girl blog award from Uma of Essence of Andhra. Thanks Uma for considering my blog for the award. You made my day wonderful. I would like to pass this award to Lavi, Sukanya ramkumar ,Ranji ,Easycrafts , and Laksh . Most of them have already received this award. So please accept even if you have already got it.