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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Pear Bars

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I was looking to bake something new and yet something that would be ready in couple of hours. This turned out amazing twist to the lemon bars I had made last month. Since with lemon bars I felt the presence of egg was too strong for my liking, I was interested in something that would use less egg and that's when I decided to create these using fusion of cheese cake and bar. I cant believe that this was my so far the most bold *experiment*given that I was to serve the friends who were coming over for dinner right away without any margin to recover but thankfully this turned out really great.


Ingredients
1 Cup Butter
2.25 Cup Sugar
1.5 Egg
1.5 cup Maida
2.5 Spoon Vanilla Essence
2.75 Cup Pecans
12Oz Cream Cheese
2 Pears
1/2 Spoon Cinnamon Powder

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
• Using handheld mixer cream the butter till very fluffy and light.
• Add in 2/3 cup of sugar and cream further.
• Add in 1 spoon of vanilla essence, sieved Maida and cream further.
• Mix in the coarsely chopped nuts.
• Grease two baking pans of 6inch in size and spread half of mixture evenly in each pan.
• Bake in oven at 350F/175C for 22 minutes.
• Let the base layer cool down in the pan itself for about 30 minutes
• After 30 minutes, with the handheld electric mixer cream the cream cheese till soft and even.
• Add in 1.5 cup sugar, egg and remaining 1.5 spoon of vanilla essence in the cream cheese and cream till soft and even.
• Cut the pears such that their center is removed and then slice them. Add in 1 Spoon of sugar and mix well. Keep aside.
• Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
• Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly in both the baking pans half in each.
• Spread the pear slices on top of this mixture.
• Sprinkle cinnamon and remaining (around 1 spoon of) sugar evenly on top of pears.
• Bake in the oven over 370F/190C for about 35 minutes.
• Take out of the oven. Let it cool for 30 minutes and then transfer it to fridge for at least another hour and then serve by making square pieces.

Notes
I know 1.5 egg is hard to measure :) but I tried using the mixture with 1 egg and 1 cheese packet but it wasn't enough to cover both pans. For the next egg, I beat the egg and took half the quantity. But in case you are baking this in single pan you could use 8-9 inch pan and use 1 egg with 1 packet of cream cheese. Note you would need to use 1 cup of sugar in that case.
I used pecan nuts because I had them available at home, but you can theoretically use any nuts, they give nice crunch and crisp taste.
I used little overripe pears so they turned out nice tender and I didn't have trouble while making pieces of the dessert.
When you take out the final bar out of the oven, there might be liquid on top, don't worry about it, it sets after the bars cool down.

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Kaju Katli

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had been wanting to try this for a while now. I made this almost two years ago for Diwali when mom dad were here. After that it just slipped out of radar so this time when Ajoy asked me to make these I was not sure if I will remember what I had done and the learning's from the last time. But thankfully I had rough notes from then that I had sent to mom. So it was pretty easy to recollect. This time it came out perfectly and I did big photo session of them :) so I cannot find any excuse to not post this. This recipe has to be easiest to make and something that will get you lot of appreciation in return.


Ingredients
6 Cup Cashews
1 Cup Milk Powder
2 Cup Sugar
Pinch of Cardamom Powder
Silver Leaf

Method

• Grind cashews into fine powder in the mixer
• Mix the cashew powder and milk powder together
• Heat tawa till very hot and then take off the heat
• Add the cashew and milk powder mixture into the tawa and keep stirring till the mixture is warm to touch. Keep aside in a bowl
• Heat 1.5 cup water with sugar to make 2 string syrup.
• Add in the cardamom powder and the sugar syrup in the cashew mixture and mix well. Knead to get the soft dough.
• On a baking pan or any big plate, lay out butter paper and put the dough and press it hard and spread the mixture.
• Apply the silver leaf and let the mixture cool for atleast couple of hours.
• Cut the kaju katlis and serve.

Notes
Getting the sugar syrup right and kneading well is one key for the success.
Also when spreading the mixture into a plate, pressing it hard and then smoothing it with butter paper will get you correctly set katli.

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Chocolate Cupcakes

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This was one of my impromptu attempt to bake something that turned out quite great. It had been long time since I had the frosting in the fridge so thought about baking something to use that one and these cupcakes worked perfectly well with the frosting.


Ingredients
2 Cup Sugar
2 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Oil
1 Cup Milk
1.75 Cup Maida
1 Cup Coco Powder
1 Spoon Baking Powder
1 Spoon Baking Soda
1/2 Spoon Salt
2 Spoon Instant Coffee

Method

• Preheat oven at 325F/160C
• Mix together egg, sugar and vanilla essence.
• Add in oil and milk and whisk the mixture over medium speed.
• Sieve maida, coco powder, baking powder and baking soda couple of times to form homogeneous mixture.
• Add the sieved contents and salt in the egg-oil-milk mixture and whisk on low speed till well combined about 2 minutes
• Warm 1 cup of water with coffee in microwave for about a minute.
• Add the coffee to the cake mixture and whisk on low speed for another 2 minutes.
• Line around the cupcake pan with around 14 cup cake liners and fill them with the cake mixture about 3/4th level in each.
• Bake in the oven for 18 minutes.
• Allow the cakes to cool off for at least an hour and then serve with frosting and optionally filling

Notes

I didn't use the filling but chocolate ganache would be great option.
I used chocolate butter cream that I have made previously to frost another cake as the frosting and it went well.

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Chocolate Buttercream

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Almost 3 years ago I took classes from Wilton about cake decoration where they taught us lots of basic plus advance decorations along with their standard recipe for icing. I modified it a bit to get this chocolate butter cream.


Ingredients
2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
1.5 Cup Coco Powder
1 Spoon Vanilla Essence
10 Spoon Milk
450g icing sugar
Pinch of salt

Method

• Mix shortening, essence and milk together till smooth
• Sieve together icing sugar, coco powder together.
• Add it to the shortening and mix well with the hand mixer till ingredients mix in properly.
• Add salt and blend for about two minutes till creamy.

Notes
Cream lasts almost half an year if stored in airtight container in the fridge.

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Saffron Pistachio Ice Cream

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This one is my father's favorite ice-cream and when I was small, i never liked it that much. Then, it was always fig ice-cream which I ended up having. But last few years, I have started liking saffron for the flavor and color it gives, so when mom dad were here I decided to make it. Then I couldn't click the photo nor could i click after that around 4 times I prepared this one. So this time, i made sure to click one before the ice-cream got over :)


Ingredients
1 Liter Milk
3.5 Cup Cream
1 Cup Pistachios
2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Spoon Saffron

Method

• In a half liter milk add in sugar and blend it in mixer.
• In a bowl take a cup of milk and bring it to boil. Add in saffron and mix well till the milk turns bright yellow.
• Mix remaining milk and the boiled milk with milk that was sweetened earlier.
• In a mixer make pistachio powder and mix it in the milk.
• Add in cream and mix well. Keep the mixture in the fridge for an hour.
• Add the mixture to the ice-cream maker and let it set.

Notes
Its important to boil the milk and add in the saffron for the flavor to mix well with the milk.
Also mixture needs to be kept in fridge otherwise it's warmth wont let it set in the ice-cream maker.

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Banana Kofta

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This recipe is mere inspiration from all the food network shows I watch.. When I was sitting watching TV i thought why not make something different with bananas that we had in fridge. So i think about koftas.. Then for gravy i was literally smelling and adding spices as per the aroma.. Felt wonderful to create a dish based on my intuition and mood.


Ingredients
3 Raw Bananas
1 Cup Cashews
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper
1/2 Spoon Saunf
1/4 Spoon Poppy Seeds
2 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Spoon Ginger
1/2 Spoon Sugar
1/4 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Stick of Cinnamon
2 Cup Milk
1/4 Onion
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Grate bananas and add finely chopped garlic, grated ginger, black pepper powder, 1/4 spoon saunf and salt to it. Knead well.
• Make small round balls and fry them in oil over high flame till golden brown in colour. Keep aside.
• In a mixie, add cashews, black pepper, remaining 1/4 spoon saunf, cinnamon and grind it to fine powder
• Add in onion and grind again.
• Add a cup of milk and make smooth paste.
• Heat a spoonful of oil and add in grinded paste, 1 cup water and remaining 1 cup milk. Cook over medium heat till mixture starts thickening.
• Add in salt, sugar and koftas and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Notes
Bananas were such a good choice for koftas, they get crispy quickly and they dont soak oil unlike potato or eggplant.
I tried to give two distinct flavors to kofta and gravy. They both gel well as well as can be tasted distinctly.

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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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Sabudana Poha Chiwada

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This chiwada is so easy to make and a sure shot success recipe :) Even when I was small i loved this chiwada the most, for it was light and tasty. Now i love it even more for it is so easy to make too :) I am going to be making this regularly :)


Ingredients
100g Sabudana Poha
1 Cup Peanuts
2.5 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1 Spoon Sugar
1 Spoon Salt
Oil

Method

• In a mixie add in red chilli powder, sugar, salt, jeera powder and grind till fine powder. Add this to a big bowl
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the peanuts till light brown. Add them to the spice mixture in bowl and stir
• In the same oil fry sabudana poha, few at a time. After each batch is fried add it immediately to the spice mixture an give it a stir.

Notes
Add in pohe immediately to the spice mixture after you take out of oil, otherwise the spice wont stick to the poha and it wouldn't get the taste.

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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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Bread Dahi Wada

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

As you know with New Years and my jetlag my unofficial resolution of the year is to eat anything but simple bread butter or cornflakes in breakfast :) So when Ajoy got bread with groceries I came up with this :)


Ingredients
8 Bread Slices
2.5 Cup Curd
2 Green Chillies
4 Garlic Cloves
3 Spoon Sugar
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper
A Pinch of Red Chilli Powder
A Pinch of Chaat Masala
Handful of Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Soak Bread slices in water and immediately press them in your palms to remove the water.
• In a plate add this bread, finely chopped green chillies, garlic, ground pepper an salt to taste. Knead really well and make the lemon sized balls.
• Fry these balls in hot oil till brown.
• In a bowl mix curd, sugar, red chilli powder, chaat masala and salt to taste
• In plates serve the fried bread mixture balls, covered with curd and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves

Notes
If you are not going to eat all the wadas at a time, then keep the bread dough and fry it later, otherwise fried and stored wadas get little rubbery.

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Eggless Chocolate Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Atul's mom had asked me for egg-less cake recipe almost 6 months back but every time something or the other came up and I didn't get chance to try out anything. Today that we are going to his place for snacks I thought that it would be perfect time to try out and see how she likes it. The cake looks, tastes awesome. It is perfectly moist and fluffy, i think i like it better than this chocolate cake with the eggs or this birthday chocolate cake again with the eggs.


Ingredients
4.5 Cup Maida
1 Cup Coco Powder
3 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Oil
1 Spoon Baking Soda
2 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1 Spoon Salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C
• Sieve together maida and coco powder in a bowl.
• Add in baking soda and salt and mix well.
• In another bigger bowl, add in oil, 3 cups of water, Vanilla Essence and beat it together until frothy.
• Add in sugar and blend again.
• Sieve in the maida-coco mixture into it and beat till mixed well.
• Grease the baking pan and pour the mixture in it.
• Bake the cake for 50 minutes on 350F/180C, turning it after 35minutes.

Notes
I drizzled it with Chocolate Ganache and decorated it with the saved white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
If you are going to decorate on top of Ganache then let it set down for 3-4 hours because i didn't and the decoration kept sliding off the place i intended it to stay.

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White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I have started liking the taste of cream cheese. I have used it in past with carrot cake and mixed indian spices to create floral taste for the icing. This time I decided to use the chocolate flavour given that i was making Red Velvet Cup Cakes which use the tinge of coco powder for chocolaty taste.


Ingredients
225gm Cream Cheese
225gm White Chocolate
1 Cup Butter
2 Cup Icing Sugar

Method

• In a bowl microwave half of the white chocolate for 1 minute.
• Add in remaining white chocolate and mix well. Microwave for 15 seconds
• Stir the chocolate well till it is smooth and completely melted. Keep aside
• In another bowl beat the cream cheese till soft and smooth.
• Add in the melted chocolate and beat again till smooth
• Add in butter and beat again
• Add in icing sugar and beat till soft, smooth and fluffy

Notes
When adding the chocolate, it should have cooled off, if not wait till it cools down. Don't pour warm chocolate in the cheese.

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Red Velvet Cup Cakes

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had made these when mom dad were around but they weren't perfect especially they were little on drier side. So this time I made little bit change in quantities and they come out perfect. I frosted them with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.


Ingredients
2.5 Cup Maida
1/4 Spoon Coca Powder
1/4 Spoon Baking Soda
1/4 Spoon Salt
1.5 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1.5 Cup Oil
2 Spoon Curd
1 Spoon Liquid Red Food Color
1/4 Spoon Vinegar
1/4 Spoon Vanilla Essence

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C
• Sieve Maida and Coca Powder in a bowl
• Mix in baking soda, salt and sugar in it
• In separate bowl add in egg, oil, red food color, vanilla essence and vinegar.
• In a cup add in the curd and fill it with water. Mix well with the fork and add it to the wet mixture (oil-egg mixture)
• Beat the mixture on low speed till smooth
• Add in sieved dry mixture of maida-coca powder a cup at a time and beat slowly till it accommodates in the mixture.
• Line the cupcake pan with the paper cups. Divide the mixture in 12 cups.
• Bake the cake on 350F/175C for 22 minutes

Notes
I normally turn around the cupcakes after 70% of baking time in this case around 15 minutes. It helps in even baking of the cakes.

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Veg Manchurian

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I like Indian style Chinese a lot and I make it very regularly. But after loosing Kitchen to Mom :), it was while since we had Chinese. So on Friday, I decided to take the kitchen in control and make Chinese menu for dinner. I have made Veg Machurian so many times but every time I had trouble with photo, so this time since the photo also came out okayish, here is the recipe.


Ingredients
2 Cup Cabbage
2 Cup Carrots
2 Cup Beans
1 Bell Pepper
1 Green Chilli
3 Spoon Corn Flour
5 Spoon Maida
1 Spoon Garlic Paste
2 Garlic Cloves
3 Stems of Spring Onions
1/4 Cup Sweet Chilli Sauce
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
2 Spoon Hot Chilli Sauce
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Chop cabbage, carrots, green chillies, beans and pepper into fine pieces.


• Add in salt to taste and mix well.


• Add in garlic paste, 4 spoon of Maida and 2 spoon of corn flour. Knead well to make the dough


• Make small balls from this dough and roll each of them into the remaining Maida and fry in the medium hot oil till golden in color. Keep aside.


• Heat oil in pan and add in finely chopped garlic cloves, spring onion's white part and fry till light brown in color.


• Add in sweet chilli sauce, hot chilli sauce, soy sauce and mix well.


• Take 3 cups of water and mix in 1 spoon of corn starch. Add it to the sauce that is boiling in the pan. Mix well


• Add in the Manchurian balls made earlier and cook for couple of minutes. Garnish with spring onion's green part and serve.

Notes
Normally I add in salt and keep aside the mixture of finely chopped vegetables aside so that i don't need to add extra water nor do the dough loosens after a while because of all the water that salt would come from the vegetables.
Instead of using sweet chilli and and hot chilli sauces, I have also used 3 spoon chilli flakes, 1/4 Cup Vinegar and 2 spoon sugar instead.

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Pachadi

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Now that mom is here, she made this awesome pachadi two days back. I loved it so much that I asked her to show me how to make it the very next day when we were actually going to eat Paani Puri for the dinner :) Nevertheless we had this pachadi after eating paani puri with excuse that something healthy after something chatpata :)


Ingredients
2 Cup Cabbage
1 Cup Carrot
1 Tomato
3/4 Cup Onion
1 Spoon Groundnut Powder
1 Spoon Sugar
1 Green Chilli
Handful of Coriander Leaves
1 Lemon
1/4 Spoon Mustard Seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
Oil
Salt to taste

Method

• Finely chop cabbage and add it to the bowl


• Add finely chopped tomato


• Add finely chopped onion


• Add in finely chopped coriander leaves and green chilli


• Add in grated carrots


• Add in groundnut powder, sugar and salt to taste


• Squeez lemon juice in it and mix well.


• Heat a spoon of oil in the small pan and add in mustard seeds and Asafoetida and let the mustard splutter.


• Add it to the mixture and mix well.

Notes
If you are going to serve it to guests, you could finely chop all the veggies and then at the last moment just before serving, mix in sugar, salt and add in heated oil-mustard. It would be much more fresh and would taste better than the complete procedure done in advance.

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Vanilla Icecream

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This is Ajoy's favorite flavor in ice-cream which i finally made last Saturday. This is so easy and tasty flavor that i wonder why i didn't make it earlier. The texture of the ice-cream came out so well, so much better than the store bought ice-cream.


Ingredients
1 liter Milk
3.5 Cup Cream
2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Vanilla Extract

Method

• In a mixie blend sugar and 1/2 liter of milk together till sugar completely till it dissolves.
• In a bowl mix the milk-sugar mixture, cream and vanilla extract and whisk with fork till everything is combined.
• Set the mixture in ice-cream bowl according to the ice-cream maker's instructions.

Notes
I used heavy whipping cream instead of light whipping cream so if using light whipping cream, you may need to use 4.5 cups of cream instead for the smooth flavor.

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Cashew Pistachio Cookies dipped in Chocolate

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I made this for taking with us to trip tomorrow for memorial day weekend. Perfect snacks for travel. Its inspired by the short bread Ajoy got from Costco couple of times.


Ingredients
3 Cup Maida
2 Cup Butter
1.25 Cup Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
2 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1/2 Cup Cashews
1/2 Cup Pistachios
1 Cup Semi-sweet Choco Chips
1/4 Cup White Choco Chips
5 Spoon Shortening

Method

• In a bowl cream butter and sugar together till fluffy.
• Add in egg yolk and vanilla essence and cream again
• Grind the cashews to fine powder and add it to the above mixture
• Sift in maida and mix together till nice stiff dough is formed.
• Form the lemon sized balls and store them in fridge for around 1 hour
• Preheat oven to 375F/190C
• Chop the pistachios
• Press each dough ball using palms to thick discs. Sprinkle the pistachios on half portion of each cookie disc and press lightly to secure the pistachios in the cookie
• Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and grease it. Transfer the discs on to the baking pan keeping an inch of distance between each of them
• Bake at 375F/190C for 12 minutes
• Let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes.
• In a bowl mix in semi sweet chocochips and 4 spoon of shortening and microwave for 1 minutes stirring once after 30 minutes. Mix till nice glossy.
• Line the baking sheet with fresh parchment paper. Dip each cookie's part which isn't covered by pistachios in the chocolate and set it on parchment paper.
• Mix white choco chips and remaining 1 spoon of shortening for 30 seconds and stir in till smooth and glossy. Fill it in a piping bag and make zig zag lines over the semi sweet chocolate on the cookie. Let the chocolate set for an hour.

Notes
If you dont have microwave you can heat chocolate and shortening in a bowl set over the boiling water. Stir till the mixture is smooth and dont let the chocolate burn. Microwave is really easy method and one doesnt need to worry much except to check it every 30 seconds so I prefer to temper the chocolate in microwave.

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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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