Carrot Halwa/ Gajar halwa

Its half term break again here and this time it’s a wet one. It has been raining pretty much all day since last few days. Our outdoor plans are all shattered and we are stuck at home. I am not complaining though as I am loving staying at home watching tele and doing activities with my little boy J All the empty  cereals boxes and tissue rolls have been put into good use making cardboard robot, house etc.

 Living in London has a great benefit when it comes to eating out options. There are many Indian restaurants and sweet shops here. It’s surprising that I never ate this from India and tasted it for the first time from an Indian restaurant here!! I loved it to core and after that first time I ate it lot of times from many restaurants and also from  friends place. The whole process of making this at home is a bit time consuming but I guess it’s totally worth it!

 Recipe source - vahrehvah

Ingredients 

Carrots - 4 cup (grated)

Milk – 3 cup

Sugar – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

Crumbled paneer – 1 /2 cup (recipe for paneer here)

Ghee – 2 tbs

Sultanas – 1 tbs

Cashewnuts – 1 tbs

Method

• In a wide non- stick pan add 1 tbs ghee and add the grated carrots and milk and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour stirring occasionally until the milk has been absorbed and carrots are cooked and soft.
• Add sugar and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
• Add cardamom powder, crumbled paneer and cook for a minute or so and turn off the flame.
• Finally in a small pan add 1 tbs of ghee and fry cashewnuts until brown and sultanas until they are plum. Pour this to the halwa and mix.
• Serve hot or cold !

Vanilla Ice cream with step by step pictures

Finally the much awaited summer is near our doorsteps, we have been blessed with warm weather with descent average of 18- 20 temperatures during the days. Summer clothes, flip flops, sunglasses and sun hats are out and so are the people!

I have been gifted an ice cream maker by my hubsters good friend recently and I was waiting for the weather to get warmer to make ice creams. Ice cream maker makes the whole process much easier and I love it. I decided to go for a simple vanilla flavour for the first time.  This is a rich ice cream and it is custard based and calls for egg yolks. I saved all the left over egg whites from the eggs and it was put into good use by making egg white omelette which I liked better than usual egg omelette. I will share that recipe soon but till then enjoy the creamy and delicious vanilla ice cream!!

Recipe source- here

 Ingredients

Milk – 1 ½ cup

Double cream – 1 ½ cup

Sugar – ¾ cup

Vanilla bean – 1(split lengthwise)

Egg yolks – 6

Salt – pinch

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Method

•  Place the ice cream maker in the freezer 24 hours before you make the ice cream  
• Place sugar, milk,salt  and cream in saucepan and heat it on a low flame until sugar is dissolved.                                                                                                        
• Scrape the seeds from vanilla bean and add it to the milk mixture and turn off the flame. Let the flavour of the vanilla seep into the mixture for 30 minutes.                          
    
• Whisk 6 egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add the milk mixture to it stirring continuously.                                                                                                     

• Place everything back into the bowl and heat it on a low flame stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until it custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon, might take up to 15 minutes.                                 
  

• Sieve the custard if necessary and stir in vanilla extract. Cover and transfer the mixture into refrigerator and chill for 8 hours or overnight.                                         
  

• Transfer everything into frozen ice cream maker and churn for 20-30 minutes until you get the desired consistency.
  

• Transfer it into a freezer safe container and freeze for few hours. Before serving take it out of the refrigerator 10-15 minutes before and scoop out the delicious ice cream and enjoy!

Bharwa Baingan/ Stuffed Brinjal

I was never a brinjal fan. In fact till few years back , I used fish them out from  curries and keep it aside !! On the other hand, when it comes to certain things I just love baingan. Baingan bhartha, brinjal fry and then this bharva baigan are few of my favourites. I guess roasting and frying takes this veggie to a new level and it might be hard to dislike it even for someone who hates this veggie as such.

Usually the English brinjal variety is quite big and is called aubergine and doesn’t taste good like the brinjal but me being sluggish still pick those to make my chopping easier. Few weeks back when I saw this super fresh brinjals in our local Indian shop I couldn’t resist picking it up and they looked perfect for stuffing. I rang up my friend  A who makes super yummy bharwa baingan for her recipe and with few modifications of my own I made her bharwa baingan for our dinner and one super easy bharwa baingan was ready in about 30-40 minutes !!

Ingredients

Small brinjals -6

For masala

Shallots/ cheriya ulli – 4-5  or 1 medium sized onion( finely chopped)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- ½ tsp

Coriander powder/ malli podi – 1 ½ tsp

Garlic cloves – 2 (crushed)

Besan powder / kadala mavu – 1 tbs

Salt

Method

• In a small pan/ kadai add little oil and sauté the chopped onions until soft and translucent
• Add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and fry for a minute and switch off the flame.
• Grind it in a blender to a paste.
• Add crushed garlic, salt, besan to the paste and mix well.
• Make two deep slits on brinjal (like a cross) from bottom keeping the stalk intact.
• Take each brinjal and stuff it with the masala paste through the slits.
• In a non -stick  frying  pan or thick bottomed pan add oil and shallow fry the stuffed brinjal on a very low flame by covering it for 20-25 minutes by  flipping the sides in between.

Serve hot with rice/ roti !

Baguette and Garlic bread from scratch with step by step pictures

Garlic bread is something which we all love at home.Usually when  we go for a pizza night, we order  garlic bread and some chicken wings  to go with it and  more than the pizza I enjoy the garlic bread and chicken wings .Supermarkets here sell descent garlic bread  so I never bothered to make it from scratch..Couple of weeks back, me and my blogger buddy MJ did a baking workshop for a couple for some lovely ladies at my place. I was in charge of cake and MJ  did  a bread, and the taste and  smell of freshly baked home -made bread totally inspired me to get into bread baking.

When I first moved to UK  it really amazed me when I saw breads in all size and shapes with all fancy names..till then I have only tasted the soft white everyday  bread from bakeries and they were simply the best. My first impression after I ate the bread from here was “ eww its not sweet and its not soft "  I didn’t like the breads here at all , after all  it’s not easy to adjust to an acquired taste is it ?? Can’t remember when I started enjoying the breads here  and developed a liking for brown bread over the white ones and then later on I  explored the fancy breads in all shapes...crunchy outside soft inside ones became  my favourite  ….now I am converted.I like my bread the way we get here and if u can make them at home it tastes even better!!

Coming to todays bread, its Baguette.. a long french bread which is crunchy outside and soft inside and its so easy to bake too !

Recipe source from here

Ingredients for baguette

All purpose flour/ Maida – 2 ½ cup

Instant yeast -  1 ½ tsp

Sugar – 1 tbsp

Salt – 1 tsp

Warm water – 1 cup

Egg yolk – 1(dilute the  egg yolk with  1 tbs of water)

Method

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup of warm water and let it froth for 5 minutes
• Measure flour and salt into a bowl.
• Add the yeast solution to it and knead it well for 5 minutes into smooth dough.
• Cover the dough with a cling film or a damp cloth and let it rise for 1 hour or until double.
• Divide the dough into two halves.

• Roll the dough into rectangles of  8 inch * 12 inch 

• Roll the sheet from the 12 inch side tightly to a log. Repeat the same with other half of the dough.

• With a knife score a line (2 inches apart) on both  logs.

• Cover it with cling wrap and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes.

• Give it an egg wash and bake it in a preheated oven at 190 degree C for 25 minutes.

For garlic bread (recipe adapted from here)

Baguette – 2 ( sliced )

For spread

Softened Butter – ½ ( unsalted)

Garlic cloves – 3 ( crushed)

Parsley leaves- finely chopped – 1 tbs

Salt ( optional)  If u like ur bread with salt ,use either salted butter or add little salt.

Method

Mix all the ingredients for the spread and spread it lavishly onto both sides of the sliced bread.

Arrange them in a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 5-8 minutes.

Serve hot   and enjoy!

Marble cake with Chocolate fudge icing

Marble cake and me never got along very well all these years. I tried to bake it several times and was never happy with the marble pattern I got. It tasted good but none of them looked good enough to photograph. Having said that the truth is, I never gave up making them as I really like the taste of vanilla and cocoa combination. Sometime back I  picked up a bundt cake pan and have been waiting for a good time to bake in it, but since the pan was quite big I didn’t want to bake something in it just for ourselves. Last week when we went to meet our friends who were going back to India I decided to bake this cake and share it with them. By the time I finished baking it,  it was little late in the evening and I had no energy to photograph it. I decided to leave it uncut and photograph it next day until my lil boy came to kitchen and said “ amma, I can smell a cake”. It’s not fair to ask a 5 yr old to wait till next day to cut the cake right? So we cut the cake and I enjoyed it with my cup of tea… So this time I dont have the  picture whole beautiful bundt cake, hopefully next time if I make one I will update the pictures.

Ingredients

Flour/ Maida – 225 gm ( approx 1 ¾ cup)

Butter – 225 gm( 1 cup)

Sugar – 225 gm ( 1 ¼ cup)

Eggs – 4 large

Cocoa powder - 1 1 /2 tbs

Hot water – 5 tbs(  3+ 2 tbs)

Vanilla extract – 2 tsp

Baking powder – 2 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Method

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and keep it aside.

Cream butter and sugar with a beater or electric mixer until creamy.

Break eggs in a separate bowl and beat lightly with a spoon.

Add the beaten egg to the creamed butter sugar mixture and beat until mixed.

Add vanilla extract and beat until mixed.

Add the sifted flour mixture slowly and fold in until well incorporated.

Divide the batter into two halves.

Add cocoa powder in a glass and add 3 tbs of boiling water to it and mix well and add this to one half of the batter and fold in.

Loosen the vanilla batter with 2 tbs of boling water and fold in.

In a greased cake tin add 2 tbs of vanilla batter followed by cocoa batter. After doing each layer lighly swirl the batter with your finger to get a marble pattern. Repeat it until all the batter is used up.This youtube video might be helpful.

Bake it an preheated oven at 180 degree C for 40-55 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. 

 For chocolate fudge icing  

Butter - 55 gm (1/4 cup)

Brown sugar - 50 gm (1/4 cup)

Icing sugar - 1 cup

Cocoa powder - 2 tbs

Method

In a saucepan add butter and brown sugar and place it on a low flame until sugar melts and its bubbly.

In a heatproof bowl take icing sugar, cocoa powder and mix.

Add melted butter sugar solution  to it and mix well. Icing is ready.

Spread the icing onto the cool cake and enjoy !!

Carrot ada payasam

Wishing all the Malayalees around the globe a very Happy Vishu !  

This is my Amma’s signature  recipe and she has been  serving this to our guests since a long time.The only modification I have done to this recipe is  replacing one cup of milk with a tin of evaporated  milk, that's just because I had a  tin of evaporated milk which my hubby picked up accidentally long time back when I asked him to  get condensed milk. Anyway it was him who remided me to use it in this payasam. Evaporated milk gave a nice flavour of reduced milk to the payasam and I will definitely be using it for again for this payasam.

Ingredients

Carrots – 3 large or 4 medium

Rice Ada – 100 gm

Boiling water – As required

Milk – 5 cups

Evaporated milk – 1 tin (optional)  Use  one  cup of milk if not using it

Sugar – 1 1/2 cups ( as per your sweetness)

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

Cashew nuts – 2 tbs

Golden Sultanans – 2 tbs

Ghee – 2 tbs

Method

• Grate carrot and pressure cook it for 2 whistles adding 2 cups of milk
• Place 100 gms of Ada in a saucepan and add boiling water to it and cover it for ½ an hour.
• After 30 minute Ada should be soft, drain the water and keep the ada aside.
• Meanwhile puree the cooked carrot in a blender and keep it aside.
• Place evaporated milk, rest of milk( 3 cups)and bring it to boil, add cooked Ada to it and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add Pureed carrot to the Ada and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Cook for another 5 minutes and finally add cardamom powder and remove from fire.
• Now in a small pan add ghee and roast cashew nuts until lightly brown and sultana until they plump up
• Add Cashewnuts and sultanas to payasam and stir in.
• Serve the Payasam warm or chill in fridge and serve cold!!

Tender Coconut pudding/ Elaneer pudding

Back home during summers Amma used to ask our coconut picker to drop few tender coconuts every time he comes for his monthly picking, after slurping the fresh juice me and my sisters used to fight for scooping out the thin tender coconut shavings. During those school/college days I was not fond of usual cooking and never cooked but when it comes to desserts, my eyes always used to lit up. I still remember making a bread pudding during my 17’s or 18’s and serving my family with pride. I am sure if I had known about this pudding then I would have definitely tried making it with plentiful tender coconut available.

Ever since I learnt about this dessert I was so desperate to make to this. I used to gaze at the tender coconuts in Indian shops here which makes  special appearance during festive occasions but without the vettu kathi/ chopper there was no point in buying them. Hammer works well for me to crack the coconut shell so I never had the need of vettu kathi to crack my coconuts, so last year when I went to India I decided to pack one chopper in check in luggage just for chopping my tender coconut, but at the last moment I dropped the plan as I was worried about security checking. After that, I never thought I would be able to make tender coconut pudding in my kitchen here until I saw this frozen young coconut shavings in a Korean shop here. They had cans of young coconut water too, so picked up both and tried making it. Finally I can cross of my desire to make tender coconut pudding for the time being. It was a delicious dessert but I think   the frozen tender coconut didn’t do compete justice to my pudding so I will be trying it again during my next vacation with fresh tender coconut J

Ingredients ( serves 6)

Tender Coconuts shavings – 1cup ( from 2 tender coconuts)

Tender coconut water – 1 cup

Milk – 2 cup

Water – ½ cup

Gelatin – 15g/ 5 tsp

Condensed milk/Milk maid – 200 ml / ½ tin

Sugar – ½ cup or as per your sweetness

Method

• In a blender puree the tender coconut shavings with coconut water.
• In a heatproof bowl add boiling water and add gelatin and dissolve, keep it aside.
• Place milk, condensed milk and sugar  in saucepan and warm till sugar dissolves. Let it cool down a bit.
• Add tender coconut puree to it and mix well.
• Finally add the gelatin mixture and mix.
• Pour the mixture into serving bowl and chill for 3-4 hours or until set.