Almond Pistachio Craisn Biscotti

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Recently I discovered magic and power of library system here. The minute I stepped into library I knew I am going to pick lot of books and variety of topics. I must have spent more than 5 hours that week just browsing through books and selecting what all I like. I got this book on the desserts and it had this recipe. First time I made, I tried word to word with few changes in ingredients but this time I changed the proportion of butter, maida as well. I loved how nice and crispy it turned out. We are now set for atleast a week of 4pm snacks :)


Ingredients
3/4 Cup Butter
2.25 Cup Sugar
6.25 Cup Maida
2 Spoon Baking Powder
2 Lemon's Zest
4 Eggs
1 Cup Almonds
1 Cup Pistachios
1 Cup Craisins
2 Spoon Fennel Seeds
1 Spoon Salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
• Beat butter and sugar together until combined, about a minute.
• Add in Maida, baking powder, salt and lemon zest and beat again till mixed well.
• Add in one egg at a time and beat till mixed well.
• Add in chopped almonds, pistachios, craisins and saunf and again mix well.
• Dust the flat surface with little bit of maida and pull out the mixture and knead and shape it into two 12 inch logs that are just over 1 inch in height.
• Line a baking pan with the parchment paper and transfer the logs into it.
• Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Pull the logs out of oven and let them cool down for around 10 minutes
• Using sharp knife, slice the log diagonally around 1/2 inch thick slice.
• Transfer the logs into pan with cut side facing up, bake at 350F for another 25 minutes.
• Let the biscotti cool and then transfer into the container.

Notes
I used almonds, pistachio and craisins but really you can use any nuts and dry fruits. In fact this time I forgot to add saunf but last time I made this, I had added it and it gave nice taste and everyone loved it :)
I used my kitchenaid standing mixer to beat in everything, as it was much easier that way than the hand mixer. But if you don't have it, you can use hand mixer too.

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Muttor And Sweet Bell Pepper Spread

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Last week when i decided to make paratha, I didn't have green chili in the fridge so I decided to use the sweet bell pepper instead. When I minced it in the mixer, the idea suddenly came to me to use mutter as well and make this tasty mixture. When the parathas were done and we tasted it right away it was tasty and crispy. But when we actually sat down for lunch, that's when the parathas had cooled down a bit and they had started to get soggy and somewhere too difficult to eat without creating mess. So in the evening I used the remaining mixture on the bread along with some tomatoes and cucumber and it made perfect sandwich. The taste of spread comes out better too. So I think this one definitely works better as spread on bread, burgers or as side chutneys than paratha stuffing.


Ingredients
2 Cup Muttor
1 Sweet Bell Pepper
1 Lemon
4 Garlic Cloves
Handful of the Corriander Leaves
1 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
Salt to taste

Method

• Squize lemon juice in the mixie.
• Add in chopped sweet bell pepper, garlic, salt and coriander leaves and make a smooth paste.
• Add in muttor, red chilli powder, coriander powder and make fine paste in the mixer.

Notes
I used frozen peas without thawing them but fresh peas could be used too.
We had this one as one of the chutneys for burger breads when we barbequed and everyone loved it.

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Fish Kabab

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Last Sunday when looking for making something to go along with evening tea/coffee time, I made these. They came out really good and we ate them even next day.


Ingredients
2 Fish Fillets (180g boneless)
1 Onion
4-5 Garlic Cloves
1 Spoon Ginger
1/4 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1 Green Chili
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Cinnamon Powder
1/4 Spoon Cloves Powder
1/2 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Cup Cilantro
4-5 Small Sweet Bell Peppers
1/2 Lemon
Salt
Oil

Method

• Smash the fish fillets and add in black pepper powder, red chili powder, cinnamon powder, cloves power, coriander powder, garam masala and salt.
• Add in finely chopped onion, green chilies, bell peppers and cilantro.
• Squeeze lemon juice in the mixture.
• Mix well and prepare kabab rolls.
• Heat tawa and add in oil, and shallow fry the kababs over medium heat from all sides till they are brown.

Notes
I thawed the frozen fish in microwave with auto defrost for the fish this time and it works wonders. I didn't have to wait long time for fish to thaw and could easily make this as a tea time snack when we both were so hungry.
You could serve these as snacks, starters, side dish or even stuffing it in the pav.

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Grilled Spicy Tilapia Fillets

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had not cooked this fish anytime earlier and its been while since we had fish. I wanted to switch to diet that has more fish and vegetables instead of any other meat (chicken, prawns or crabs) so we got this from Costco. They sell it skinless and boneless big fillets so i instantly thought of trying grilling them. Yesterday we had barbeque planned and so it was perfect time to experiment.


Ingredients
2 Tilapia Fillets
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
3/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Apply salt, red chilli powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala and lemon juice to the fillets.
• Massage the fillets by rubbing these spices and lemon juice for couple of minutes. Keep aside for 45minutes to an hour
• Heat the grill and apply oil spray on both sides on the fillets and grill them for about 3-4 minutes each side.

Notes
If you don't have grill, you could cook them on pan over medium heat too. Grill gives nice finish.
I served this with mint chutney that i made from fresh mint from my patio garden as starter and ate most of it :) In fact out of two fillets only half i could save for next day and click photo :) I used that half in salad with the mint chutney as dressing. Perfect lunch :)

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Lemon And Apricot Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I was on lookout for something more like pound cake yet not something plain for Ajoy's birthday celebration. He enjoys plain cake more than anything so something based of that yet something more richer would make perfect for the occasion. I wanted to either use lemon or orange especially after seeing all these food networks making use of their zest. So when i found a recipe for this cake in one of the books i have, i modified it bit to his taste and came up with this.


Ingredients
3 Cup Maida
175g Apricot
1 Cup Almonds
1.25 Cup Pistachios
2/3 Cup Sliced Almonds
2 Cup Sugar
1 + 1/3 Cup Butter
1.25 Spoon Baking Powder
3 Eggs
1/3 Spoon Salt
1 big Lemon

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F
• In a bowl, blend butter and 1.5 Cup sugar together till smooth
• Sieve together maida and baking powder 3-4 times.
• Add it to the butter-sugar mixture.
• Add in eggs, salt, zest of the lemon and 1/2 cup of warm water and blend till smooth.
• Fold in chopped apricot, 1 cup almonds powdered and 1 cup pistachios chopped.
• Line the loaf pan or any other cake pan you want to use with parchment paper on bottom as well as sides and spoon all the batter in it.
• Put remaining pistachios and sliced almonds over the mixture and press it lightly over the cake.
• Bake the cake in oven for 75 minutes on 180C/350F, covering the top with foil after around 50 minutes.
• Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• In the mean time, over medium heat with constant stirring, cook lemon juice of the lemon with remaining sugar till sugar dissolves completely an mixture bubbles up slightly.
• Pour the mixture over the cake and then take out the cake on wire rack to let it cool completely.

Notes
Covering the top midway into baking helps not overcooking the nuts and burning them. The lemon-sugar syrup adds the flavor as well as a little moistness to the cake.

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Strawberry Icecream

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Last week I had got strawberries to make jam :) But the week was hectic and i couldn't get myself slogging for an hour or two in kitchen so instead yesterday i decided to make icecream instead. I was little skeptical for this was first time i was trying it out and serving without knowing how it is going to turn out added to the nervousness. Glad everyone enjoyed it and that surely calls for this post.


Ingredients
5 Cup Milk
3.5 Cup Cream
1.5 Kg Strawberries
4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Lemon

Method

• In a mixer, blend 1Kg of strawberries and sugar together till smooth. Transfer it to bowl.
• Add in milk and whisk till smooth.
• Add in cream and lemon juice and again whisk till consistent.
• In ice-cream maker pour this mixture in batches according to your ice-cream maker's capacity.
• Chop remaining strawberries, and when ice-cream is almost set ad them to the ice-cream and let the ice-cream maker set the ice-cream.
• Freez for another hour or two to get the best results.

Notes
I saved few strawberry pieces so I could add them on top while serving ice-cream.

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Mango Mousse Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

At Hardik and Shweni's farewell party, there was this mango mousse cake that I liked a lot. The first bite into it and I wanted to make my own cake :) In fact the cake was such a hit that people wanted to leave Seattle so that they get farewell and this cake :) When everybody were talking about this, I was quite and when they turned to me, somebody mentioned: "No, Sheetal doesn't need to leave Seattle, she will make it herself :)". I thought the expectations from me are rising, so i didn't say anything that time, but that was the very moment I had decided to try this out over weekend itself. The one we ate had used artificial mango flavor, I decided to use using Alphonso mango pulp, the taste has come out really well. Now I just need to invite all the party attendees to validate if Cake is at least as good as the one they had got :)


Ingredients
1 Cup Maida
3 Eggs
200g Cream Cheese
3 Cup Whipping Cream
5 Cup Alphonso Mango Pulp
1 Spoon Corn Starch
2 Spoon Milk Powder
1/4 Spoon Baking Powder
1.75 Cup Sugar
4 Spoon Gelatin
4 Spoon Lemon Juice
2 Spoon Oil
1.25 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1/4 Spoon Salt

Method

• Preheat oven at 350F/175C.
• Sieve through Maida, corn starch 5 times. Add in milk powder, baking powder and sieve couple of times. Keep aside
• In a standing mixer whip egg whites and salt together till foamy.
• Add in 1/4 Cup Sugar and whip till peaks can hold. Keep aside.
• In a bowl whisk egg yolks, 1/2 Spoon Vanilla Essence and 1/4 cup Sugar and whisk till sugar dissolves.
• Add in oil and another 1/2 spoon Vanilla Essence and whisk for 30 seconds.
• Carefully fold in egg whites.
• Fold in Maida mixture 1/3rd at a time. Don't over stir.
• Line the springform or any 9inch round baking pan with parchment paper, grease it and pour in the batter.
• Bake the cake in oven at 350F/175C for 20 minutes.
• Immediately take out the cake on the wire-rack and let it cool down.
• In the mean time, in a pan heat 1/4 Cup Sugar and 1/4 Cup Water together with stirring till it boils. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes and then take off the heat. Add in 1/4 Spoon Vanilla Essence and let the mixture cool down a bit.
• While the sugar syrup is cooling down, in a bowl whip cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 2 spoon lemon juice together till soft.
• Heat 1/4 Cup Water in microwave for 1 minute. Add in 2 spoon gelatin and mix till it dissolves completely. Whip it in cream cheese mixture.
• In separate bowl, whip whipping cream till its fluffy and can hold peaks. Fold it in the cream cheese mixture.
• Fold in 3 cup mango pulp till mixture is smooth consistency.
• Now divide the cake into two layers. Put one layer at bottom of the 9inch springform pan. Brush 1/2 of sugar syrup over the cake. Pour in half of mango cream mixture. smooth it with spatula. Put the second layer of cake, brush it with remaining sugar syrup. Pour remaining mango cream mixture and smooth it with spatula. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• After the cake has refrigerated for 45 minutes, take remaining 2 cup mango puree in bowl, add in 2 spoon lemon juice and heat it over medium flame. Cook the mixture till its hot, don't let it boil or you will loose the flavor. Take off heat.
• In a bowl microwave 1/4 cup of water for 1 minute. Add in remaining 2 spoon gelatin and let it dissolve completely. Mix this mixture in mango puree and stir thoroughly. Let it stand still so that its warm to touch. Stir the mixture again.
• Take off the cake from refrigerator and pour the mango puree over all over the cake. It should form uniform layer over the cake.
• Refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving. Remove the ring, decorate with fruits and cut into pieces.

Notes
The second layer of cake if is of same diameter as the spring form cake, cut its side so that when you remove the cake there is only base layer visible. My cake was fluffy in the middle so when i cut it into two layers, the top one was automatically less in diameter so worked out perfect.
If you let the cake cool out in pan itself, it will stick to the pan so it is very important to flip it on wire-rack immediately.
I have used mango pulp which is sweetened hence if you are using fresh mango puree then sweeten it with sugar.
Even though process looks lengthy, after first try you will know that the process isn't tedious. Once you know what to do, it is easier and off course the end result is mind blowing :)

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Cabbage Broccoli Kabab

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

You may notice that the last recipe I posted used Cabbage too.. Its because, this is left over from the last week's Cabbage :) I had lot of left over Broccoli too.. So last evening I decided to make a mix vegetable out of it but it was only when I actually started making it I thought this would make great Kababs. They are really tasty and very easy and quick to make. I made them in half an hour.


Ingredients
2 Cups Cabbage
3 Cups Broccoli
1 Tomato
1 Spoon Oregano
1 Spoon Jeera
1 Spoon Mustard
1 Spoon Chaat Masala
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Lemon
1 Spoon Coriander Leaves
1 Spoon Pudina Leaves
2 Spoon Maida
1 Spoon Rice Powder
A Pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 Cup Cashews
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Heat half spoon of oil and add in tomato puree.
• Add in oregano and red chilli powder and cook till completely done. Keep aside.
• In a pan, heat another spoon of oil and let mustard, jeera splutter. Add in Asafoetida.
• Add in Broccoli chopped into small pieces and cook with constant stirring till broccoli is almost done
• Add in finely chopped cabbage, pudina leaves, coriander leaves and cook till cabbage turns light brown.
• Add in earlier cooked tomato paste, lemon juice and salt to taste and cook for another minute. Take off heat and let it cool down.
• Add in maida, rice powder and chaat masala. Mix well. Make balls with these mixture and press them between palms with a cashew.
• Heat pan and add 2 spoons of oil and cook on both sides till they are brown.

Notes
I even had tomato paste ready for I had made it for Rice Bowl last week. I had made double quantity and had used half of it. Its a great item to store in fridge for quick flavoring

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Lychee Icecream

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Here almost all stores sell the canned lychees but never the fresh ones. Last month I decided to give it a try especially for ice-cream. It turns out that if you use the syrup you get pretty good flavor from one can


Ingredients
1 Can of Seedless Lychee
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Milk
3.5 Cup Cream
1 Lemon

Method

• Take out lychees from the syrup and put the syrup in the mixie.
• Add in sugar and milk and blend it till the sugar is disolved.
• Mix in cream and lemon juice and whisk a bit.
• Add it in ice-cream maker and let it set.
• Fine chop the lychees and mix that in the ice-cream around 3-4 minutes before the setting is complete.

Notes
If using fresh lychees just use around 30 lychees. Puree around 15 of them with 2 cups of water and use that instead of lychee syrup and finely chop remaining lychees. You might need to use probably 2/3 cup of sugar.
The lemon helps in bringing out the taste from the lychee.

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Fig Gelato

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Since childhood my favourite fruit was Fig more than even mango.. With known love i share for mango it would be hard to believe but its true :) Whenever i had to choose something while playing i would always pick fig.. Then as i grew up i was introduced to Sujata's (the famous ice-cream parlour in pune) fir ice-cream... Even till date whenever I go to pune i have atleast a tub of fig ice-cream.. So now you might wonder how come i waited so long to make this ice-cream then, but the thing is it was so hard to find dried figs here that I had to get them from India :) So now that I have it I couldnt wait but make this awesome gelato..


Ingredients
1 Liter Milk
250g Dried Fig
3/4 Cup Honey
1 Spoon Lemon Juice

Method

• Soak the figs in two cup of milk. Keep aside for atleast two hours
• In a mixie grind the soaked fig to paste, keeping aside 4-5 figs.
• Add in lemon juice and honey and blend again.
• Add this paste to remaning milk and stir well.
• Set the ice-cream as per ice-cream maker instructions.
• Dice the remaining figs and mix it in the set ice-cream.

Notes
I dont like to wait after i start making ice-cream, so I use chilled milk. Also while soaking figs, i keep them in fridge that way they chill too and i dont need to wait for the mixture to chill before i put it in ice-cream maker.

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Corn Coriander Paratha

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

To all the blogger readers Happy New year. After rejuvenating holidays this is my first post of the new year. Well I had made these parathas the day Ajoy came from India but its today I finally get to post the recipe. The parathas are very simple easy, using whatever I had in fridge but the end product was very tasty.


Ingredients
2 Cup Corn
2 Cup Wheat Flour
Handful of Coriander Leaves
5 Garlic Cloves
2 Green Chillies
1/2 Lemon
Chaat Masala
Salt to taste
Ghee
Oil

Method

• Add in a spoon of oil in the wheat flour. Add water and knead the soft dough. Keep it aside.
• Microwave the corn for two minutes.
• In a mixie add in garlic, coriander, green chillies, corn, lemon juice and salt and make a smooth paste.
• Make lemon sized dough balls and roll two rotis.
• On one roti, spread the corn-coriander paste, roll over the second roti and close the sides.
• On hot tawa, cook it over medium flame with ghee and oil.
• Sprinkle a pinch of chaat masala on top and serve with pickle and cold curd

Notes
I microwaved the corns instead of boiling them as its quick and easy but if you don't have microwave you can always boil them with water and then let the water drain out.

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Watermelon Splash

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Today after dinner I wanted to try out something new with watermelon and here is the chatpata juice i came up with.


Ingredients
1/2 Watermelon
2 Big Lemons
4 Spoon Sugar
6-7 Pudina Leaves
1/4 Spoon Chaat Masala
1/4 Spoon Jeera Powder
Pinch of Black Pepper Powder
Salt to taste

Method

• Dice the watermelon and add it to the mixer bowl.
• Add in lemon juice, sugar, pudina leaves, salt, chaat masala, jeera powder.
• Using the crushing blade let the mixture blend together in a mixie
• Pour it in glasses and sprinkle black pepper powder on top. Chill
• Garnish with small pudina leaves and small scoops of watermelon.

Notes
Since I was so waiting to drink this, to chill it faster, i kept it in fridger for 10 minutes :) Alternatively you can also use already chilled watermelon so that you dont need to wait even 10 minutes :)

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Plain Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I made this simple cake for my Fondant decoration class.. It tasted awesome with and without icing :)


Ingredients
5 cup Maida
2.5 Cup Butter
2.5 Cup Castor Sugar
2 Spoon Baking Powder
1.5 Spoon Lemon Juice
4 Eggs

Method

• Preheat oven to 325F/160C
• Sieve through baking powder and maida in a bowl
• Add in sugar, melted butter, lemon juice and eggs and mix thoroughly till the mixture is glossy
• Prepare a cake pan ready by greasing it. Add the batter into the pan
• Bake the cake on 325F/160C for 1 hour
• Take out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes and then take it out on cooling grid and let it cool completely. Decorate or serve as it is.

Notes
The cake was really ok as it is but when i decorated it, it was little extra sweet. May be next time i should reduce the sugar quantity if i am going to decorate it.

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Lemon Date Cupcakes

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Recently i started watching food network and some programs are really good.. One of them is Cup cake wars.. I was amazed at how people come up with their own recipe and create those beautiful cupcakes. So here i my share of mix and match inspired cup cake.


Ingredients
4 Cup Maida
3 Cup Dates
2 Cup Milk
1 Cup Butter
2 Cup Cream
1 Cup Icing Sugar
1.5 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Lemons
1 Spoon Baking Powder
1/4 Spoon Baking Soda
Salt to taste

Method

• Grind a cup of dates in with the milk to form smooth paste. Keep aside.
• Whip sugar and butter using hand mixer till mixture is smooth and fluffy
• Add eggs and blend well to get smooth mixture.
• Sieve Maida, Baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
• Add it to the butter, sugar - egg mixture in portions alternating with milk-date mixture, beating well with each addition.
• Add in remaining 2 cups of dates - chopped and a lemon's peel grated and as well as its juice. Mix lightly till combined.
• Preheat oven to 350F/180C
• Line the cupcake pan with the cupcake paper cups and fill each of them to 2/3rd with the cake batter
• Bake the cakes at 350F/180C for 25 minutes. Keep aside to cool down completely.
• Add cream in a bowl and mix it with the icing sugar.
• Whip it using hand mixer on low speed till the cream becomes fluffy and stiff
• Scoop it on each cup cake or decorate using piping bag. Garnish with grated lemon peels.

Notes
I created a cone that i made from the parchment paper and piped the icing on top of few cakes and scooped the icing on others. So making cone is alternate to using piping bag :)
While whipping the cream its better to use hand mixer as its easy, fast and reliable. :)

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Prawns in Garlic Butter Salad

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I have started to enjoy salads so much that every week i almost crave for one if i dont eat one. So here is a simple butter garlic garden salad with prawns that i made that tasted awesome.


Ingredients
8 Large Prawns
2 Cup Broccoli
2 Cup Green Beans
1 Cup Sweet Corn
1 Avocado
3 Cup Iceburg Lettuce
1 Onion
1 Cup Sweet Bell Pepper Sliced
1/4 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
6 Garlic Cloves
1/4 Spoon Oregano
1/2 Spoon Black Pepper Powdered
1 Lemon
Mozzarella Cheese for garnishing
Salt to taste
Butter

Method

• Heat pan and add in broccoli and green beans with some butter. Cook till they are smoky in color. Mix in salt to taste and keep aside.
• In same pan add in sweet bell pepper and some more butter and cook it for a while.
• When pepper seems almost done add in sliced onion, salt to taste and cook till onions turn light brown.
• Mix it with green beans and broccoli and keep aside.
• In same pan add in prawns and garlic diced coarsely and some butter and cook them turning often on low-medium heat till prawns are done. Mix in salt and keep aside
• Microwave sweet corn for two minutes and keep aside
• Divide the lettuce into two bowls.
• Add in half mixture of green beans, brocolli, pepper and onions in each bowl.
• Add in diced avocado half in each bowl.
• Add in prawns and garlic dividing half in each
• Add in cherry tomatoes and corn half in each bowl.
• Sprinkle lemon juice, black pepper powder and oregano half in quantity on each bowls contents evenly.
• Garnish it with shredded mozzarella cheese

Notes
I used Lemon as the dressing instead of ranch or anything else. If you like you can add ranch or other dressing that you like. But i thought the salad tasted awesome just with natural flavours from lemon.
Except prawns i cooked everything else on high flame giving it a crunchy texture. For prawns i added them on high heat and then reduced the heat so that i could give them smoky taste and color yet cook them nicely.

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Guacamole

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

The first time i ate guacamole at Chipotle, i fell in love with it.. Then i searched for recipes and came up with this perfect one. Tasted awesome and finished in few minutes :)


Ingredients
3 Avocados
2 Spoon finely chopped Onion
1 Spoon finely chopped Tomato
1/4 Spoon finely chopped Green Chili
1 Garlic Clove
Handful of Coriander Leaves
1 big Lemon
Salt to taste

Method

• Scoop out avocado and dice them in the bowl.
• Add in onion, tomato, green chili
• Add in finely chopped garlic clove and coriander leaves.
• Add in Lemon juice and salt to taste.
• Mix well, smashing it a bit and serve

Notes
I didn't smash the avocados completely so that i could get pieces of it while eating.
Consume quickly as otherwise avocados would turn brown as they are high in iron contents.

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Strawberry Sorbet

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

When I got Ice-cream maker recently, i was confused whether to make sorbets first or fresh mango ice-cream.. Both being my equally favorite icy treats.. Well mango won the battle since i had the ingredients easily available. But today when I went to Costco, i made sure to buy lots of strawberries to make this one. I am glad I did.. Its tasting yummy and definitely helping in beating this heat..


Ingredients
600g Strawberries
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Corn Syrup

Method

• Dice the strawberries into four pieces or more if bigger in size and add in the bowl.
• Add in sugar and lemon juice and mix well.
• Keep in refrigerator overnight
• Next morning, add in corn syrup and pulse the mixture in the mixie.
• Add the mixture to the ice-cream maker and start the machine
• After around 30 minutes, take out and store in container for 2-3 hours. Serve as it is or with mint leaves.

Notes
I didnt grind the mixture but instead pulse it so that when eating the sorbet i could have smaller pieces once in a while in the mouth. It did wonders.
You could chill the mixture for an hour or two as well instead of overnight.

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Prawns Burrito Bowl

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Chipotle is Ajoy's favorite joint and he does keep insisting on going to it once in a while. We like the chicken burrito bowl there. So after seeing them prepare the bowl for few times, I decided to try this out at home. Since I had prawns at home and didn't have boneless chicken, I made it with prawns. Turns out it was quite nice.


Ingredients
400g Cleaned Prawns
1.5 Cup Rice
5 Tomatoes
1 Lemon
3 Cup Sweetcorn
3 Spoon Curd
3 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Oregano
1/2 Spoon Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/2 Cup Grated Cheese
1/4 Cup Ranch Dressing
1/2 Cup Corriander Leaves
4 Spoon Butter
Lettuce
Salt to taste
Olive Oil

Method

• Mix in curd, 1 spoon of red chilli powder, corriander powder, garam masala and salt.
• Add in prawns and mix well. Keep aside.
• In a pressure cooker cook the rice with 2.5 cups of water and keep aside.
• Heat 1/4 spoon of oil and add the corriander leaves to lightly cook them.
• Add the oil-corriander leaves mixture, lemon juice and salt to the rice and mix well. Keep aside
• In a pan, add a spoon of oil and heat it.
• Add in 3 mashed tomato, remaining 2 spoons of red chilli powder, pepper powder, oregano and salt. Mix well.
• Cook till mixture thickens. Keep aside to cool down
• In another pan heat butter and fry in the marinated prawns till they are done and dark brown in color.
• Now in three big bowls make the burritos by adding a layer of rice dividing equally in them.
• Add prawns, finely chopped remaining 2 tomatoes, grated cheese.
• Microwave sweet corn for 3 minutes and add it to the burrito bowl.
• Add the tomato-chilli sauce, ranch dressing and lettuce. Serve it immediately.

Notes
I microwaved the corn for quick cooking. You can alternately boil them in water and drain out the excess water.
The tomato-chilli sauce would turn quite spicy. I had used another spoon and it was little extra spicy hence while writing this recipe I have suggested 1 spoon less compared to what I used.
Used ranch dressing because I didn't want to buy or make sour cream just for this.
Since I had jumbo prawns I cut it into 2-3 pieces after frying them in butter.

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Plums Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

We had got lot of plums from Costco but they weren't ripe ones. So I had been thinking of making a cake using them for quite a few days. Finally today I got some time to experiment with it thought the plums were ripe now. I made it in heart shape in honor of today's Valentines day.


Ingredients
1 Cup Butter
1.5 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Maida
1 Cup Hazelnuts
1 Cup Walnuts
1 Cup Groundnuts
3 Eggs
1/2 Spoon Baking Powder
6 Plums
2 Spoon Lemon Juice
4 Spoon Powdered Sugar
2 Spoon Almonds

Method

• Grind hazelnuts to powder
• In a bowl, beat in sugar and butter till light and fluffy.
• Add a egg to the butter and beat well
• Then add in 1/3rd of hazelnut powder and beat well.
• Continue adding remaining eggs one at a time alternating with hazelnut powder and beat well
• Add in walnuts and peanuts and mix well.
• Sieve maida and baking powder together and add in to the above mixture. Mix well.
• Grease a pan and add in the batter
• Preheat oven to 350F/180C
• Bake the cake at 350F/180C for 45 minutes
• Take out the cake out of oven and arrange in halved plums(without seeds) over the top
• Bake again at 350F/180C for 10 minutes. Take out and let it cool down
• In a small pan mix lemon juice with powdered sugar and let it simmer till thickened
• Pour it over the cake, garnish with finely chopped almonds.

Notes
Alternately you can use marmalade jam if you have. I wanted to use that for the glazing but since I didn't have it I made lemon, sugar mixture.

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Vegetables Stir Fry

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had been having lots of vegetables in the freeze for quite some time. So today when we planned for quick lunch before heading out to cycling, how to quick something nice and yet something quick. Indo-chinese being my favorite cuisine I came up with this.


Ingredients
Handful of Ladies Fingers
Handful of Eggplant pieces
Handful of Cabbage
1 Cup Beans
1 Onion
1 Pepper
2 Spring-onions
6 Garlic Cloves
1 Spoon Garlic Paste
1/4 Spoon Ginger Paste
1/2 Lemon
5 Spoon Soya Sauce
1 Spoon Ketchup
2 Spoon Corn Flour
Salt
Oil

Method

• Fry Ladies fingers in the oil and keep aside
• In a pan heat oil and add onions. Fry them till translucent
• Add in garlic cloves, chopped to fine pieces, eggplant pieces, beans, Pepper chopped, cabbage and cook them with constant stirring till the vegetables are cooked well.
• Add in fried ladies fingers, garlic and ginger paste and Lemon juice and stir again
• Add ketchup and soya sauce and stir for couple of minutes
• Mix corn flour with 6 cup of water and add in the vegetables. Cook till gravy thickens
• Add in salt and spring onions and stir for a minute. Serve with rice or noodles

Notes
To give it a little tangy taste, I used lemon but if you are not big on tangerines then you can just skip it. You cna also substitute lemon by a spoonful of Vinegar if you don't have lemon in stock.
I also wished I had some baby-corns and brocollies to add the taste, but never mind, there is always next time :)

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