Linzer cookies

 

Recipe adapted from Homecookingadventure

Ingredients (makes approximately 17 sandwiched  cookies)

Plain flour – 185 gm/ 1 ½ cup

Almond flour – 50 gm/ ½ cup

Egg – 1

Unsalted butter (softened) – 115 gm/ ½ cup

Granulated sugar – 75 gm/ roughly 1/3 cup

Vanilla extract – ½ tsp

Cinnamon powder – ¾ tsp

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Salt – pinch

Icing sugar

For strawberry preserve/ jam

Strawberries – 175 gm

Sugar – 110 gm/ roughly ½ cup( ¾ tablespoon more)

Lime juice – 1 tablespoon

Method

In a bowl sift together flour, almond flour, baking powder,salt, cinnamon powder and keep it aside.

In another bowl beat butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add egg and beat until mixed.

Add dry ingredients to it and fold it until mixed.

With your hands bring the dough together, divide the dough into two and  shape it into discs

Wrap and refrigerate the dough for 2-3 hours.

Meanwhile make the jam

Making jam

I have done a detailed post on making jam back in 2013, please check it out here, but you can use the measurements mentioned in this post(under  ingredients) for jam and it is  enough to sandwich all the 17 cookies.

Alternatively you can use store bought strawberry jam!

Rolling  cookies

 In a clean surface dust with some flour and take  one half of the dough from the fridge and roll it into 1/8 inch thickness  and cut out the desired shapes.

Take the other half out the fridge and roll the dough  into same thickness and cut out the cookies. With another fondant/cookie cutter cut out stars, or snowflakes from the middle.

Gather the scraps and put it in the freezer for few minutes before re rolling and repeating the process.

Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for about 7-8 minutes.

Cool the cookies in a cooling rack.

Take the bottom half of the cookies and spread it with a tsp each of strawberry jam.

Dust the cookies (with shapes cut out from middle) with icing sugar through a sieve to get a snowy effect.

Sandwich both cookies together gently.

Enjoy !

Potato and cheese croquettes

 

Ingredients

Potatoes – 350 gm

Red Leicester cheese /cheddar cheese grated – 75 gm

Onion granules – 1 tbs

Salt

Pepper

Eggs – 2

Flour – for rolling

Bread crumbs – for rolling

Oil – for brushing

Method

Peel and boil potatoes until cooked. Mash it well without any lumps.

Add grated cheese, onion granules, one egg,  salt and pepper to the mashed potatoes and mix well.

Shape them into croquettes.

Dust it in flour, then in beaten egg and finally in bread crumbs and place them in a tray.

Finally brush it with oil and bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 20 mins.

Chocolate souffle

Ever since I watched Chef Monica Galetti making a strawberry soufflé in an old MasterChef series, I was fascinated by this dessert. Finally timing seemed perfect today to make this dessert as our weekend treat.  Now that the summer is over, I didn’t want to make a fruit one, so the next best option was a chocolate soufflé. I watched quite a few YouTube videos and together with all the tips I saw from MasterChef and few other chefs like Gordon Ramsey, I roughly got an idea how to make it and came up with this recipe with the basic ingredients I had. It was just a trial and never expected to come out this perfectly. I did overbake it for a bit but I have corrected the timing in the recipe. The baking time for this will vary depending on the size of your ramekins, temperature of your oven etc. So please be mindful of that when you make this.

So here is how I made it.

Ingredients

For chocolate cream patisserie

Plain flour – 1 tablespoon

Butter – 1 tablespoon

Dark chocolate – 100 gm, broken into pieces (70 % cocoa solids)

Egg yolks – 2

Milk -75 ml

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

For meringue

Egg whites – 2

Granulated sugar – 40 gm/roughly 3 tablespoon

Butter at room temperature  to grease the ramekins

Sugar - 3 tsp (to coat the ramekins)

Method

Grease 6 ramekins generously with softened butter and refrigerate for 5 minute. Take it out and give another coating of butter( tip from Gordon Ramsey) . Sprinkle the ramekins with caster sugar, tip out the excess and put it back in the fridge again.

In a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and when it melts, add flour and cook for a minute or so until it thickens a bit.

Add milk to the saucepan and cook for 2-3 minutes until it thickens a little bit. Remove from fire.

Add broken chocolate to it and let it stand for some time until the chocolate melts.

Mix well, add the egg yolks and mix again and set aside.

Meanwhile make the meringue. In a clean bowl add 2 egg whites and beat until soft peaks are formed. ( donot add sugar before getting soft peaks, tip from Monica)

Add sugar one tablespoon at a time at this point and beat until stiff peaks are formed.

Take 1/3 rd of the meringue and mix it gently to the chocolate mixture with a thin spoon.

Gently fold in the rest of the meringue to the mixture being careful not to knock much air out of it.

Fill the ramekins with the mixture  until it’s full. Level it with a spatula and then run a finger around the edges to make a small gap which allows the souffles to rise perfectly .

Bake the souffles in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 12-15 minutes until it’s well risen and set with a slight wobble.

Dust it with some icing sugar and serve immedietly with ice cream.

Ada Pradaman

Ingredients( Serves 8-10)

Ada – 200 gm

Jaggery – 400 gm

Water – 1/3 cup + water for cooking ada

2 large coconut for extracting  coconut milk which yields;

 2 cups of thick coconut milk /Onnam pal

4 cups thin coconut milk /randam pal

Dry ginger – ¼ tsp

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Cococnut slices – 1 tablespoon

Cashewnuts –  1 ½ tablespoon

Sultanas – 1 tablespoon

Ghee – 3 tablesoon

 Method

Boil few cups of  water with ½ tsp  of ghee  in a big pan. Make sure there is enough  water to  cook ada.  Cook ada  until it’s soft and cooked well.

Drain water and  wash the ada in a colander with some cold water to remove the excess starch. Strain and keep it aside.

Meanwhile add jaggerry  in a thick bottom pan /non -stick pan and melt jaggery with 1/3 rd cup of water.

Add cooked ada to the melted jaggery and cook the ada  with 1 tablespoon of ghee in jaggery until the jaggery coats the ada and begins to leave the sides of the pan.

Add the thin coconut milk to the ada and cook until milk reduces and thickens ( takes about 15-20 minute)

Finally add the thick coconut milk and mix well , remove from fire before it boils.

Add chukka/dry ginger powder and cardamom powder to the payasam.

In a small pan ,add 1 tablespoon of  ghee and  fry the coconut slices until brown. Add it to the payasam.

In the same pan add  another  tablespoon of ghee and fry cashewnut slices and sultanas until cashewsnut are brown and sultanas plumps up.

Add this to the payasam too. allow the payasam to rest for some time for the flavours to mingle.

Enjoy !

 

Chettinadu chicken curry

Ingredients

To marinate

Chicken – 750 gm

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Lime juice – 1 tbsp

Salt

To  roast and powder

Coriander seeds – 2 tablespoon

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch small stick

Cloves – 3

Cardamon – 5

Whole dry chilli – 4

Peppercorns – 2 tsp

Poppy seeds – 1tbsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tablespoon

Cumin seeds – 1tsp

Star anise - 1

Dagar na phool/ blackstone flower  – 2 -3 small pieces ( this is the spice that gives it a unique flavour and taste)

Grated coconut – ¼ cup

Sesame oil – 1 tbsp

Other ingredients

Shallots or Onion –  1 ½ cup  or 3 medium ( finely chopped)

Tomato – 2

Ginger minced – 1 tbsp

Garlic minced – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 – 3 sprigs

Coriander leaves – few

Oil

Method

Marinate the chicken pieces with  salt, turmeric and lime juice and keep it aside.

In a pan dry roast all the spices under roast except coconut for 2-3 minutes until nice aroma comes. Transfer it into a plate and allow it cool down.

In the same  pan, add oil and roast the coconut  until golden  brown. Once it cools down, grind it to a fine paste together with the dry roasted spices adding little water.

In a pan add oil and saute the finely chopped shallots/onions until golden brown.

Add in ginger , garlic and curry leaves and saute until raw smell goes.

Add  tomatoes and cook until soft.

Add chicken and fry for few minutes until juices are sealed inside.

Add the ground paste ( add little water if required)and mix well until chicken is well coated in the masala.

Cook the chicken covered  until ¾ th done.

Remove the lid and cook for further 3 -5  minutes with lid open to make gravy slightly thick.

Remove from fire and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Thalaserry Mutton biriyani

This biriyani is  bit time consuming but if you plan early and do some preps beforehand it can be done in no time..for example you can fry the onions a day before, marinate the mutton etc to make your job easier next day.

What makes this biriyani different is that, it doesn't use red chilli powder, coriander powder etc.The heat comes from green chillies and flavours comes from the green paste, freshly ground biriyani masala and bista/ fried onions.

Usually we make this with Jeerakashala /Kaima rice which I bring from home every year but I have ran out of it and had to use basmathi rice instead.

I have only used very little ghee in this but use as per your taste, also I didn't use saffron water to flavour the rice because none of us in our house like saffron taste in biriyani. Go ahead and use it if you want.


 For Mutton masala

Mutton /lamb– 500 gm ( I used lamb shoulder )

Onion – 4 ( sliced lengthwise)

Tomato – 1
Oil/ghee

For  Marinade 
Green paste

Green chillies – 10 ( or as per your spice level)

Ginger – Thumb size piece

Garlic – 4-5 cloves 
Coriander leaves (handful)
Mint leaves (handful)

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

Yogurt – 5 tbs

Lime juice – 1 tbs

Salt

For biriyani  masala powder ( to roast and powder)

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch thick stick

Cloves – 3

Cardamom pods – 3

Bay leaf – 1

Star anise – 1

Peppercorns- 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
shahi jeera - 1/4 tsp

For Bista and garnish 
Onions - 2-3 medium thinly sliced and fried (reserve a handful for garnishing the rice)

For rice

Biriyani rice/ Jeerakasala rice/ Basmathi rice – 2 cups ( I usually use Jeerakasala rice for all my biriyani's which I bring from Kerala )

Onion – 1 ( thinly sliced)

Water drained from cooked mutton – 2 1/2 cups

Boling water – 1 1/4 cup

Lime juice – 1 tbs

Cinnamon stick – 1

Cardamom – 4 pods

Cloves – 4

Ghee – 1 tbs

Oil – 1 tbs

Salt

For garnishing

Fried onions- Handful ( from the reserve)

Cashewnut halves – 2 tbs

Golden raisins – 2 tbs

Ghee – 1 tbs

Coriander leaves

Method

Make a paste of green chillies, ginger , garlic , coriander and mint in a mixie and keep it aside.

Marinate the mutton with above paste along with  turmeric powder, salt, yogurt  and keep it as long as you can(preferably overnight ) or at least for ½ an hour.
Fry the onions for Bista and garnish until golden brown , drain and keep it aside. Reserve a handful aside for garnishing the rice.

In a thick bottomed pressure cooker/ saucepan/ wok add ghee + oil( use the same oil used for frying onions) and sauté the sliced onions until it’s nicely browned.

Add in chopped tomatoes and cook until it’s mushy.

Add the marinated mutton, biriyani masala and fried onions/bista and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of water and transfer it into a pressure cooker(If u used a different vessel ) and cook  for 4 whistles.

Once the pressure is released drain the 2 1/2 cups of water from mutton and keep it aside.
If there is excess water in the masala, heat it again for 2-3 of minutes to thicken the masala.

Cooking Rice

Soak the rice for ½ an hour, drain completely  and keep it aside to dry.

In a big pan add oil+ ghee and add the whole garam masala and sauté for a minute.

Add in the sliced onions and sauté until soft.

Add the dried rice, salt, lime juice and fry the rice for a minute or so.

Add the mutton stock, remaining water and bring it boil.

Cover and cook the rice until done. Takes about 5-7 minutes.
Leave it undisturbed for sometime and then gently fluff up the rice with a fork.

Garnish
In a small pan add ghee and fry the cashewnuts until brown and fry sultanas until they plump .

Layering

In an oven proof dish spread mutton masala  on the bottom, spread rice on top, sprinkle some roasted cashewnuts, raisins, fried onions and some chopped coriander leaves ; continue layering the same way until all the rice and masala is used up.
Cover the dish tightly with a lid or seal it with maida and dum cook it in a preheated oven of 180 degree C for 15 minutes.
Open the dum and enjoy !

Chocolate chip cookies

Recipe halved from -  Humming bird bakery book.

Ingredients( makes large 12 cookies )

Flour - 200 gm/ roughly 1  and another  2/3 cup flour

Butter -115 gm( softened) roughly 1/2 cup

Soft brown sugar -175 gm( roughly 3/4 cup )

Egg -1

Vanilla essence -1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 11/ 4 tsp

Salt - pinch

Chocolate chips - 100 gm ( dark or milk )

Method

Beat butter and sugar until creamy

Add egg and beat until mixed.

Add flour, baking soda , salt and mix .Add half of the chocolate chips and  make a smooth dough .

Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and press rest of  chocolate chips on top of each balls. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 10-11 minutes

Shahi Paneer

Ingredients

Paneer -250 gm

Onions -2 (chopped)

Tomatoes -3 large or 4 medium

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp

Red chilli powder – 2 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tbs

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Whole garam masala ( cinnamon stick 1 inch, cardamom 3, cloves 2 )

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Bayleaf - 1

Yogurt – 3 tbs

Cashewnut – fistful

Milk/cream – Few tablespoons or as per your taste

Water

Ghee/butter/oil

Kasoori methi leaves – 1 ½ tspp ( toasted)

Coriander leaves

salt 

Method

In a pan add oil and when it’s warm add in  cumin seeds and when it sputters add the whole garam masala and bayleaf. Fry for a minute or so.

Add chopped onions and saute until it’s light brown.

Add ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell goes.

Add red chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder  and saute for few seconds making sure not to burn the  masala.

Add chopped tomatoes,salt  and cook covered until tomatoes are mushy

Add in  cashewnuts and saute for few seconds and then remove from fire.

Once it’s cold grind this to a smooth paste. Your gravy  sauce is ready.

In another pan add some oil and pour the gravy. Add in yogurt and  milk / cream.

Add paneer cubes  and  kasoori methi leaves  to the gravy. Add boiling water to adjust the consistency of the  gravy and cook for few minutes  for the  paneer  to suck up  the flavour.

Add garam masala and   finely chopped coriander leaves and remove from fire.

Finally add butter and a dollop of cream on top of the gravy if desired.

Chicken chukka

Ingredients

Chicken – 750 gm ( cut into small pieces)

Onions- 3 ( chopped)

Tomato – 1 large ( chopped)

Ginger garlic pate – 2 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Coconut oil

Salt

Curry leaves

Bayleaf - 2

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

To roast and powder

Coriander seeds – 1 ½ tbs

Cinnamom stick – 1 inch stick

Cloves – 3

Cardamom – 3

Whole red chilli – 4

Peppercorns – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Method

Marinate the chicken with salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside for 30 minutes.

Roast the ingredients under “To roast” and grind it into a fine powder.

In a pan/wok add coconut oil add cumin seeds and bay leaves and roast for a minute or so until a nice smell comes.

Add in chopped onions and saute on a medium high heat for few minutes until it’s light brown.

Add  curry leaves and ginger garlic paste and fry until raw smell goes.

Add chicken and fry on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes to seal the juices inside.
Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.

Finally  add the roast powder and coat the chicken well in the masala.

Cover and cook the chicken for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and cook the chicken for another 5-10 minutes until the chicken coats well in the masala.

Garnish with some curry leaves or chopped coriander leaves.

Chocolate brownie

Recipe  adapted from a cook book (1000 baking recipes)

Ingredients

Plain chocolate/milk chocolate ( 30% cocoa) – 55 gm

Unsweetened cocoa powder – 45 gm ( roughly ½ cup)

Butter – 110 gm ( ½ cup)

Light brown sugar – 225 gm

Eggs – 2 large

Self raising flour  - 55 gm

Method

Melt  chocolate, butter  and cocoa in a bowl kept on top of a simmering pan of boiling water.

Whisk sugar and eggs with a beater for few  minutes until light and creamy.

Pour in the chocolate mixture and sieve  over the flour and fold until mixed.

Pour the mixture into a greased 8 inch square pan and bake for about 30 -35 minutes or until outside is set centre is soft.

Let the brownie  cool completely before you cut. 

Churros

 Recipe source  - My friend Lakshmi who tried it from Cooking classy

Ingredients

Flour –  1 cup /130 gm

Butter – ¼ cup/ 55 gm

Sugar – 1 tablespoon

Water – 250 ml

Egg – 1 large

Salt – pinch

Vanilla extract – ½ tsp

For coating

Caster sugar – 75 gm

Cinnamon powder  – 1 tsp

Oil for frying

Method

Make the coating by mixing sugar and cinnamom powder in a plate. Leave it aside.

In a pan add water, sugar, salt, butter and bring to boil.

Add flour to it and cook on a medium low heat until it all comes together to a smooth , lump free  dough.
Allow it to cool down for 5 minutes.

Break the egg and add vanilla extract to it and beat with a hand mixer until well mixed and forms a smooth dough.

Meanwhile  heat oil in pan.

Fill the dough into a piping bag with rosette tip. 

When the oil is medium hot, you can either directly pipe the dough straight into hot oil and snip the end with a scissor or pipe it into a plate and gently slide it into hot oil. Do not over crowd the pan.

Fry the churros for 2-3 minutes by flipping sides in between until it’sslightly golden.

Drain it into a kitchen tissue to absorb any excess oil and then then transfer into cinnamon sugar plate. Coat the churros well with sugar.

Enjoy hot just as it is or with some chocolate sauce !

Pazham Nirachathu/ Stuffed plantain

Ingredients

Plaintain/ nenthra pazham ( ripe) – 2

Grated coconut – 1/2  cup

Cashewnuts -1 ½ tbs

Sultanas/raisins – 2 tbs

Sugar – 1 -2 tbs

Cardamom seeds  -from 4 pods

Ghee – 1 tbs

Flour/maida – ¼ cup

Water ( as required)

Salt ( a pinch )

Oil

Method

• Peel the plantain and run a knife through to make a slit keeping the end intact.
• In a pan add some ghee and fry cashewnuts and sultanas until cashewnuts have browned and sultanas have plumped. Remove and keep aside.
• Powder cardamom seeds with sugar in a mixie (skip this step if you have cardamom powder  )
• In the same pan add some more ghee and add grated coconut and cardamom sugar. Cook for a minute or so until sugar has melted and coated the coconut well. Mix this well with roasted cashewnuts and sultanas.
• Stuff the plantain with the filling.
• Meanwhile make a  batter with flour, salt and water.
• Seal the gap with the batter.( make sure your batter is thick enough to coat, my batter was little thin so it didn’t coat the plantain well)
• Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the plantains for few minutes flipping the sides until it become golden brown.