February 2014 ~ Want to know

Friday, February 28, 2014

Bakharwadi

Bakharwadi is one of the famous north Indian recipe. If you are among the people who love to eat sweet, hot and sourness together then this serves as a wonderful dish for you. It is a vacation time and I know lot of you will be planning for long trips and you want to make snacks that you can store for a while. Bakharwadi can be stored for a week or more, I feel it is a great picnic snack, every one can enjoy the wonderful spicy Indian flavors. We are planning for a 4 day trip shortly and I made these yummy bakharwadis. They are simple to make, and one more thing is that you can surprise the guests/family members with this delicious treat if they are having for the first time. Most of the south Indians do not know about this recipe, so if you are a south Indian you can surprise your family with a variety twist like this. Kids will love the yummy fennel seed and sugar flavor in this recipe. I made them for the first time and got lots of compliments, you may better start trying now.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour (generally Maida/all purpose flour is used)- 1 cup
Oil for deep fry
Salt to taste
Caramel seeds/vama-1/2 tap
For filling
Fennel seed-1tbsp
Sesame seed/till/nuvvulu-1tbsp
Coriander powder-1/2 tbsp
Cumin powder-1/4tbsp
Sugar-1tbsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice 2 tbsp
Method:
For dough:
In a bowl take wheat flour and add salt and caramel seeds and mix well. Then add 2 tbsp of oil and mix well. Add water and knead like a chapati dough. Add another tbsp of oil on top of the dough and polish the surface. Put a lid on it and let it rest for 10-15min. Meanwhile add all the filling dry ingredients mentioned above to the hot pan and fry them at low flame for 5 min. Turn off the flame and grind it to a coarse powder by adding 2 tbsp lemon juice and keep aside.

Take the dough and divide it in to 6 equal portions. Make each of the divided part to round shape and with the help of rolling stick roll them like flat chapatis. Add 1 tbsp of filling and spread it on entire rolled dough.

Roll it inwards and cut them to 1/2 inch pieces each. Repeat this process. Now net oil in a pan at medium flame and fry these prepared bakharwadis till golden brown and take them on to paper towel to drain excess oil and store them in the air tight container for long run. Hope you like them. Please leave your comments and suggestions.

Mughlai bhuna chicken

Mughlai bhuna chicken

Ingredients

Boneless chicken ½ kg cubes
Onion 1 large blended
Tomato puree half cup
Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
Green chilies coarsely crushed 4
Cashew nut grinded 8
Yogurt ¼ cup
Khoya 2 tbsp
Cream 4 tbsp
Egg 1
Flour to roll chicken
Oil for frying the masala
Black pepper ½ tsp
Chili powder 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp

Method

Cut chicken into cubes, roll the chicken in flour, deep fry and keep aside, heat oil in a karhai add onion paste, garlic paste, crushed green chilies and fry well add tomato puree fry till oil separates, add salt, chili powder, black pepper, cashew nut paste, yogurt then add Khoya, beaten egg, stir immediately let the egg mixture cook add chicken pieces, cook on dum for 10 minutes serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Ive been Nominated!

This is totally crazy but someone has nominated me for Top 10 Food Blogs of 2009 at Chef2Chef.net! I didnt even know there was such a thing. I think its really cool and it would be fun if I could get some votes in! There are some awesome blogs up there so I dont expect to win but its an honor to be nominated. If youd like to vote for me (no pressure) just click on the link below and click on the chefs hat next to my blog title. Scroll over how many hats youd like to give it and click. Thats all! Thank you guys!

Top 10 Food Blogs 2009

Click here to vote for My Italian Grandmother!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

In my quest to deliver deliciousness via cupcakes to the masses, I imagine Ill experience a few pitfalls as well as a few successes along the way.

Im not sure how Id classify this cupcake:

By all accounts, this looks like a pretty tasty cupcake. And yes, it was a tasty cupcake. Unfortunately, it came out a bit more dense than Id planned it to be. It was almost more of a brownie texture than a cakey texture. Delicious, yes, yes of course, but this isnt BrowniesOMG! okay?

The peanut butter cream cheese frosting was yummy, absolutely, but it was a bit salty. Some liked it, some (i.e., me) thought it could have been sweeter.

My main disappointment though was that when I pulled these suckers out of the oven, they went from this, domed and high and puffy with so much promise...

...to this...

...in mere seconds. They didnt all fall flat, but yeah, thats basically what happened. Was it the 8 eggs in the batter? Yeah, probably. Was it the three sticks of butter the recipe called for?

Oh, without a doubt.

But hey, at least they were edible. Im farily certain my cupcake tasters enjoyed them.
In the event you feel inclined to subject your insulin and cholesteral levels to this treat, heres what you need:

Lotta butter, lotta eggs, lotta chocolate.
Start by chopping the chocolate:

Then melt the butter with the chocolate:

Then you do some more stuff, but I dont have any pictures of that part...

And about 25 minutes later, you take em out of the oven:

Heyyyy, allllllriiiiiiiiight!

Ah, crap. FML.

Okay, well, no one will notice once you cover them in peanut butter cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from cupcakeblog.com)
24 regular cupcakes (I got 16 cus Im doing something wrong)
350 degree oven (I set mine at 400 degrees to pre-heat and turned it down to 350 once I popped them in the oven with the goal of getting that domed effect. Im still workin out the kinks.)

200 gram bar of Dark Chocolate
3 sticks butter
2-1/4 cups sugar
8 eggs (you read that right)
1-1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt

1. chop chocolate and transfer into a bowl.
2. add butter to the chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double boiler. stir until chocolate melts and butter is combined.
3. remove from heat and stir in sugar. let mixture cool for 10 minutes.
4. beat in an electric mixer for 3 minutes.
5. add one egg at a time, mixing for 30 seconds between each
6. sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into the mixture and mix until blended.
7. scoop into cupcake cups and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Peanut Butter frosting (this didnt make quite enough for me, so you may want to up the proportions by half)

1 8-oz package of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
3/4 cups of creamy peanut butter
4 cups of powdered sugar

In a bowl, whip together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add in powdered sugar about a cup at a time until light in color. Add peanut butter. Frost cooled cupcakes.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FILLED COOKIES

There should be a warning attached to this recipe...do not eat these while they are still warm, because you wont be able to stop!! These chocolate spritz dough cookies with a mini-Reeses center, are heavenly right out of the oven. I "accidentally" knocked a few of them over, while they were still hot, and the melted chocolate sort of got drippy like in this photo (so I was FORCED to eat those imperfect ones...snicker).

The chocolate shell is a spritz cookie recipe

1¼ cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup bakers cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Frozen miniature Reeses cups

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add this gradually and beat well. Let dough sit for about 15 minutes.

Roll dough into 1½ inch balls and place in an ungreased mini-muffin pan. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes, leave the cookies in the pan.

Immediately press a frozen miniature Reeces cup candy into the center of each baked cookie, pressing down as far as you can. Let cookies sit in pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully lift them out and place them on a cooling rack. The chocolate will be very liquid, so be careful not to spill it.

Cookies will cool and set in an hour so. After the chocolate "sets" the cookies are no longer messy. Makes about 4 dozen.

NOTE: Christmas sprinkles or candy would make these a wonderful addition to your Christmas cookie trays.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Farm Stand Vegetable and Italian Sausage One Pan Roast

This dinner came about after I went to my local farmstand yesterday afternoon, just to see what they had and to get some inspiration for dinner. Lucky for me, it was chock full of all sorts of lovely colorful zucchini and squash and the most beautiful jewel toned sweet peppers. My conundrum was how to fit all of these delicious veggies into one scrumptious dish. Recalling that I had some fabulous spicy Italian sausage in the freezer and knowing that everything is better after it has been roasted, I decided to toss it all in a roasting pan and let the oven do the work!

I preheated the oven to a hot 400 degrees. Next, I prepared the vegetables by simply cutting the zucchini in half, lengthwise because I prefer to keep the most natural appearance of the vegetable and larger pieces will prevent it from overcooking. I deseeded the sweet peppers and cut them in half as well. I also halved a tomato, smashed 5 cloves of garlic, and quartered a sweet onion. I placed them in the roasting pan, nestled in the spicy Italian sausage and drizzled over some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A little seasoning of salt, pepper and thyme and rosemary fresh from the garden and it was ready for the oven. It roasted for approximately 50 minutes in total, being tossed really well after about 20 minutes or so. I served it with a few leftover home made croutons to soak up some of those delicious juices and a good shower of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Dahi batata puri

Dahi batata puri

Ingredients

Gol gappy 24
Potatoes boiled and cubed 2
Yogurt whipped 2 cups
Sugar 2 tbsp
Salt ½ tsp
Chat masala 1 tsp
Sev 1 cup
Coriander leaves 2 tbsp
Sweet and spicy chatni ½ cup

Ingredients for sweet chatni

Dates ½ cup
Sugar ¼ cup
Tamarind pulp ½ cup
Salt ½ tsp
Crushed red pepper 1 tsp

Method

Soak dates in water for 1 hour remove seeds and grind them with tamarind pulp, sugar, blend together, cook for 5 minutes, remove and cool

Spicy chatni Ingredients

Coriander leaves 1 bunch
Green chilies 6
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Salt ½ tsp
Lemon juice ¼ cup
Garlic ½ tsp

Method

Put all together in blender and blend well.

Method for dahi batata puri

Peel boiled an coarsely mashed potatoes, add salt and chat masala and keep aside, beat yogurt with sugar and pinch of salt, arrange gol gappa on serving platter, make a hole in centre of each puri, fill with mash potato and yogurt, top with sweet and spicy chatni, garnish with sev, coriander leaves, serve immediately.

Mango cheese cake gateau

Mango cheese cake gateau

Ingredients for base

Sponge cake of 3 eggs
Eggs 3
Caster sugar 3 ounce
Flour 3 ounce
Vanilla essence ½ tsp
Baking powder ½ tsp

Ingredients for filling
Curd cheese 12 ounces
Caster sugar 4 ounces
Gelatin 1 ½ tbsp
Water ¼ cup
Mango essence ½ tsp
Cream whipped 2 cups
Egg whites 3 stiffly beaten
Mangoes chopped 1 ½ cup
Method
Make sponge cake, cut into 2 horizontally.
Method for filling
Beat curd cheese with caster sugar, add mango essence and dissolve gelatin, beat egg white stiff keep aside, beat cream stiff and fold in the cheese mixture, also fold in the egg whites, place 1 piece of cake into a 8 inch cheese cake pan, spread with mangoes chopped, spread cheese cake mixture, top with second sponge layer, chill until set. Remove from the tin, dust the top with sifted icing sugar, decorate with whipped cream and mango balls. Serve chilled.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Go bananas on banana bread recipe

There are two things that come to mind when someone mentions banana bread; 1) Bananas and 2 bread. Bread has existed for centuries ever since the Neolithic period. Primitive men of crush grain with rocks and you mixed with water. Then, they spread the mixture on rocks on hot laid.

Bananas, was on the other hand, from Southeast Asia, probably the Malaysian region. Around 2,000 BC, spread it as far as India and Papua New Guinea. The banana has such significant impact in their culture that the entire structure is not wasted. The tribes are used as bridges; the leaves as a food packaging and banana heart (single male banana) are used for medical purposes. But not wheat was common at that time. Didnt so from there are banana bread.

The ancient Greeks were those who came up with the idea of banana bread. Although the banana in the region was not native, they were many references to the fruit. A most remarkable example is loose in the book Historia plantarum, translated as "The History of Plants", a Theophrastus, a Greek naturalist. The Greeks had a reputation for mixing bread with honey and other fruits. Why not bananas?

Modern banana bread was invented in the 1930s. It grew during the deployment of the baking soda quick bread popular. Sodium bicarbonate or baking powder, replacing yeast as a leavening agent and this was due to the fact that bread much faster takes quick rise yeast compared to use, takes the hours.

Experienced another upswing in popularity in the 1960s as home baking quickly to fad banana bread. Apart from the fact that several different variations was also invented by banana bread. Bakeries to produce nuts, chocolate chips and other fruit in the plain banana bread, greater diversity in their menu added. There is also a vegan version substituting the eggs with tofu or soy.

An article about food recipe, must now especially if banana bread is the topic of delicious. To make this delicious snack, you need a 1 cup white flour, half (1/2) Cup wheat flour, one and a half (1 1/2) TSP baking powder, quarter (1 / 4) TSP baking powder, quarter (1 / 4) TSP cinnamon, a eighth (1/8) teaspoon salt one (1) egg one 1 cup mashed banana (3 medium), two-thirds (2/3) cup sugar, quarter (1 / 4) Cup canola oil, a (1) TL lemon zest (optional), half (1 / 2) cup chopped Pecans (optional)

First, grease Loaf pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and a fountain in the Centre to make. Combine the eggs, bananas, sugar, oil, lemon zest in a separate bowl. Mix the two together give and stir up moist. Add nuts if necessary. Spoon batter into the Pan and bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. Check whether it is cooked, poke a toothpick and when it comes to clean, it is done. Sprinkle brown sugar on top.

Bananas are an excellent choice of potassium. Help in cleaning the colon and the small intestine. Although their nutrients are easily reduced once cooked, is the price you have to pay to satisfy your palate.

Mick is that even taught Cook behind banana bread recipe-a site full of delicious banana bread recipes. Banana bread is really easy to bake if make Mick can make it, so you can!

Banana Bread

Hi! Im Jamielyn from
Photobucket

Today Im going to share with you our favorite banana bread! Give it a try...you will thank me later! ;)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:

1 stick butter

1 1/3 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 c sour cream

2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 c mashed bananas

1 c milk chocolate chips

1/2 c chopped pecans (optional - I left these out!)

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla and sour cream. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl. Slowly add to sugar mixture. Fold in bananas, nuts, and chocolate chips. Pour into 2 loaf pans or 2 muffin pans-or 1 of each. Bake at 325 for 1 hour in a loaf pan or 25 min in a muffin pan.

You can stop right here and this banana bread will already be amazingly delicous!! However if you want it to be even more ~~fattening~~ delicious add this topping:

1/4 c. melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

optional:

1/2 cup coconut

1/4 c chopped pecans

Mix ingredients together and sprinkle on bread. Put the oven on broil and put bread in for 1-2 min.

Enjoy!!

Thanks for letting me stop by! Id love for you to come by I♥ nap time and say hello!

{Jamielyn}

http://iheartnaptime./

Coconut Oats Cookies

I always love coconut. Baking coconut adds flavor and texture. These cookies are made with oats, coconut, sugar and vanilla. They are quick to make. I used whole grain oats which are nutritious.

Coconut Oats cookies are very crispy and soft with an intense coconut flavor. Here is the recipe of these lovely and delicious cookies.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour – 2 cups

Shredded Coconut – 2 cups

Whole grain oats – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 cup

Egg – 2 no

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Salt a pinch

Baking Soda – ½ tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Melted Better – ½ cup

Preparation

In a bowl add melted butter, sugar and mix well.
Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.
Combine flour, oats, shredded coconut, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and salt.
Add to above mixture and mix well.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Shape into 1-in balls, flatten slightly and place them apart on greased baking sheet.
Place some shredded coconut on top of cookies.
Bake for 15-17mins or golden brown.
Remove from oven immediately if overcooked cookies get hard.

Sent to Kids Delight hosted by Champa and Oats Recipes hosted by Sameena

Monday, February 24, 2014

SANDRAS FABULOUS FRESH PEACH CRUMBLE

The absolute delightful dessert
where youll savor every bite, seriously...

Servings: (12)
Prep: 15 mins. |
Bake: 1 hr. 15 mins.

Posted by Sandra

INGREDIENTS

***Filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain kosher salt
5 cups fresh peaches, blanched to peel, and sliced
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

***Crumble
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/4 cup glazed pecans, chopped
1/2 cup dried blueberries
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine-grain kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into cubes

METHOD

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 13”x9” baking dish with butter flavored oil, and set aside.

To make the peach filling, in a large bowl stir together brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and kosher salt. Add peaches and gently toss to coat. Mix together cornstarch and lemon juice, and vanilla, and then stir into peaches to incorporate. Add the filling mixture into the prepared 9”x13” baking dish, and evenly spread mixture out. Dot with 1 teaspoon of butter by breaking into pieces beforehand.

To make the crumble, in a medium bowl combine dry ingredients, add in 1 stick of butter chilled cubes and combine with pastry cutter or fork, until the dry mixture is the size of small peas.

Top peaches with half of the crumble topping. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake Peach Crumble, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add the remaining crumble topping, and reduce heat to 325 degrees and finish by baking, uncovered, for another 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes to set Peach Crumble before serving. - Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tip: I serve this Peach Crumble warm with french vanilla ice cream and/or fresh whipped cream.

Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat

Spices make this chocolate sauce muy fabulouso.

One of my favorite food-themed movies is Chocolat. All those sexy close-ups of thick and glossy ribbons of deep dark chocolate. The dustings of cinnamon you could almost taste. And the revelation of chile-spiked cocoa! It's enough to make any chocolate and spice lover swoon.

Flash forward. Winter day. Steve is turning, smiling- devilish- in the late afternoon sun that slants through the square kitchen window, unwrapping (vegans please skip ahead now to when I acknowledge your goddess-given right for a substitute) a gorgeous grass fed ribeye steak from Whole Foods and ponders, aloud, Should we make some kind of stew tonight- something Sicilian, maybe? And suddenly- feverishly- I am possessed with the idea of mole- a lip smacking, foodgasm-inducing Mexican sauce, decadently rich and redolent with unsweetened chocolate and spices.

You know what happened next.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Sunday, February 23, 2014

poori with potato besin curry

Poori...yummy breakfast.......

Though it is rich in calories...i prefer having it atleast once a week......

This is my hubbys favorite breakfast.....

Ingredients:

For poori/puri:

Wheat flour--3cups

salt to taste

water required for mixing dough

oil 2 ts

Oil for deep fry

For Potato Besin curry:

Boiled and Sliced potato--1/2cup

besin flour/ gram flour-2table spoons mixed in 1/2cup of cold water.

chili powder-1/2ts

salt to taste

onions-1/2cup

green chilies-2ts

cumin seeds-few

mustard seeds-few

turmeric powder-1/2ts

Method:

For poori/Puri:

Kneed the dough by mixing flour+water+salt+oil. The Dough consistency should be little hard
Wait for 15min and separate the dough in to small portions.
Roll them out in to thin circle sheets.
Heat the oil required for deep fry in a pan and fry the rolled out dough under medium flame.
poori are ready to serve.

Note worthy:
For smooth and soft poories always fry them under medium flame.
For crispy poories fry under medium to high flame, and if u prefer still crispy poories add little corn flour while kneeding dough.

For Besin curry:

Take a thick bottom pan and heat 2ts of oil.
Add cumin + mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
Add onions + green Chiles + turmeric +red chili and saute them for about 2min.
Add boiled and sliced potato and fry for about 2min.
Add gram flour mixture + red chili powder+ salt and cook for about 5-6min.
Add water to your required consistency.
Boil for about 2min under medium flame.
Now the curry is ready finally garnish with cilantro.

Note Worthy:

The curry becomes thick after cooling down so prepare it with thin consistency.

Enjoy this week end with quick, easy and yummy recipe.

Did you like my recipe?plz leave your valuable comment....

plz come back again :) Deepthi

EXOTIC CLUB SANDWICH

EXOTIC CLUB SANDWICH

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FILLING

Cabbage sliced-1 medium sized
Capsicum sliced-1 medium sized
Peas boiled-50 grams (1/4 cup)
Carrot grated-2 small sized
Beans chopped-100 grams (1/2 cup)
Paneer (cottage cheese) mashed-50 grams (1/4 cup)
Tomato chopped-2 small sized
Ginger chopped-1/2 inch (1 teaspoon)
Salt-1 teaspoon (as per taste)
Black pepper powder-1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder-1/2 teaspoon
Tomato ketchup-2 tablespoons
Oil-2 tablespoons

FOR THE SANDWICH

Bread slices-10-12
Tomato sliced-1 medium sized
Cheese slices-5-6
Paneer sliced-100 grams- 5-6 slices
Oil for greasing

METHOD

Make all the ingredients ready to be used for the filling.
Chop the beans, boil the peas, grate carrots, slice the capsicum, mash the paneer, chop the tomatoes & slice the cabbage.
Add the sliced cabbage to boiling hot water & boil for 2 minutes.
Then drain out the water & the cabbage is ready to be used.
Heat oil in a pan & add chopped ginger to it & fry till it turns golden brown.