Mushroom Pulav..!

This is one of my personal favorite. I like mushroom made in every style. This pulav has a very different flavor as it is cooked in coconut milk. This goes well with butter chicken, chicken kuruma or any other curries. I have taken this picture along with Chicken Kuruma. I will be uploading the Kuruma recipe after this.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice                  2 cups
Mushrooms                    2 tins of 200 gms or 400 gms fresh 
Onion                             3 (sliced)
Green Chilly                  4 or as per taste
Ginger - Garlic paste     1 tsp
Cinnamon                      2 small stick
Cloves                            5-6
Cardamom                     3-4
Bay leaves                     2
Coconut Milk                3 cups (for 1 cup basmati it should be 1.5 cups of water)
Ghee
Salt

Method:

1. Soak the rice for 15 minutes in water.
2. In a bottom thick vessel add ghee, bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
3. Once this is heated, add onions, green chilly, salt and saute till translucent.
4. Then add ginger-garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes.
5. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 mins.
6. Now add the rice and fry for 5 mins.
7. Into this add coconut milk, cover and cook until the rice is cooked well.
8. Serve hot with curry of your choice :)

Cake Pops....!!!

Cake pops are usually made out of left over cake pieces. I make them when I have left over pieces after cutting it into shapes and icing and all.. If you wish to make it with a freshly baked cake you can do so... For cake recipes you can go to the label "cakes" in my blog..

Ingredients:
Cake                                   -              Any flavor

Dream Whip Powder         -              1 sachet

Cold Milk                          -              ¼ cup

Vanilla Essence                 -              ½ tsp

Cooking chocolate             -              150gm (each choc and vanilla)

Sugar Sprinkle

Stick to insert into the cake balls

Method:

1. Crush the cake with hand and transfer into a bowl.
2. Beat the dream whip powder with cold milk and vanilla essence until fluffy.
3. Now add the whipped cream into the cake crumbs and mix well until you can form small balls.
4. Make small lemon sized balls out of this and freeze them for 1 hour.
5. Melt the cooking chocolate and dip each stick into the melted chocolate first and insert it into the balls.
6. Special care has to be taken to make sure there are no cracks in the balls and they don’t break when you insert the stick into it.
7. Now dip each balls in the desired chocolate and put the sugar sprinkles above it.
8. Let it set.(since the balls are cold it will set fast)
9. Refrigerate this before use.
10. Your kids will love this for sure.. :) :)

Saffron Tres Leches / Saffron Milk Cake!

I am back after a real long break 😊. It is indeed hard to manage work, studies, home and finding time to blog. But now I have made it a decision to atleast post one dish a week. So I hope you all would be enjoying more of my recipes. So here is one amazing dessert to start with. Although I have seen my sister making the basic Tres Leches, I never thought of trying it until I had this amazing Turkish Trileche from Istanbul. They have a very famous café in Taksim square named Hafiz Mustafa. They are famous for their desserts and signature Turkish coffee. That day I decided I must try it at home. But being busy again I couldn’t. Later one day one of colleague brings Saffron Tres Leches and I couldn’t resist but to have atleast 2 slices. It was heavenly. So, that’s when the final decision was made to make it at home but was waiting for an occasion. So for this time when we had our wifeys party (when all the wifes in my hubby’s friends circle get together), I decided to make this and let me tell you this blowed them, my hubby and indeed myself 😀 I made a really big one that served up to 20 people. So if you want to try for a smaller group, use half the proportion. The recipe comes here:

 

Ingredients:

Cake:

Eggs                                        6

Flour                                       2 cups

Corn Flour                              2 tbsp

Sugar                                      1 cup

Baking Powder                       ½ tsp

Saffron (optional)                   ½ tsp

Milk:

Evaporated milk                     2 tins of 410 ml

Milk                                       3 cups

Condensed Milk                    1 tin

Saffron                                   ¾ tsp

Topping:

Whipping Powder                  2 sachets

Milk                                       1/2 cup

Or Egg whites beat until meringue and blow torch them

Method:

1. Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degree C.
2. In a mixer or bowl beat the eggs with 1 cup of sugar until fluffy. This must be the consistency of eggs for sponge cake which is if you take out the beater with little batter and right an 8 on the rest of the batter, the number will stay for few seconds. This is how I understand its ready.
3. Sift the flour, corn flour and baking powder.
4. Add this into the egg mixture and fold until whole batter is mixed well. Add in the saffron to this and mix well.
5. Bake this for about 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. 
6. Once the cake is baked, cool it for sometime.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the milk mixture. Add the evaporated milk, condensed milk and milk in a pan and heat until just boil. Add in saffron and keep it on low flame for few minutes. Switch off the flame.
8. Once the cake is cooled, prick it all over with a fork.
9. Keep around 2 cups of milk aside and pour rest of it on the cake.
10. Keep for 5 mins and beat whipping cream and spread it over as you wish.
11. Keep this closed and cool for at least 4 hours before serving. I kept it overnight and came out well.
12. Enjoy the yummiest Saffron Tres Leches :)

Nankhatai....!! (Indian cookies)

Its a different but easy cookie... It really doesnt require a lot of ingredients... and doesnt consume a lot of time as well... The soft crumbly nankhatai brings back many a fond memory. The word Nankhatai comes from the Persian word 'Nan' which means bread and 'Khatai' probably come from 'Catai' or 'Cathay', the older name of China. Thus translating as 'Bread of Cathay'. Another version from North east Iran/ Afganistan is that Khatai is a type of biscuit, also referred to as Kulcha-e-namaki.. It has a little resemblance of the 'melting moment' cookie....

Ingredients:
All purpose flour                                           1 cup
Vegetable Ghee ( I used Aseel)                     ½ cup
Sugar (Powdered)                                          ½ cup 
Salt                                                                 a pinch
Cashew nuts                                                   2 tbsp
Cardamom (Powdered)                                  ¼ tsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Grease the baking tray.

3. Sift the flour with salt and cardamom powder.

4. Beat the powdered sugar with ghee until creamy.

5. Add in the flour mixture by 3 steps and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.

6. Add the chopped cashews and mix well with hands and make a dough similar to chapati dough.

7. Make small balls from the dough and place them on the greased tray.

8. Bake this for 15 minutes at 180°C until the edges slightly starts to brown.

9. Don't let it bake till the color changes, cause it will become hard.

10. Cool the cookies on the wire rack and store in a closed container... Enjoy them with a hot coffee... :)

Arayes....!!!!

Arayes is an Arabic dish which is made with pita bread and minced meat. If you like to make your own pita and do arayes, you can. I made with store bought kubus/pita.

Ingredients:

Minced Meat (I used mutton)                                -              1/2 kg

Onion                                                                     -               1

Tomato                                                                  -                1

Pepper powder                                                       -                1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder                                          -                 1/2 tsp

Parsley leaves                                                        -                 1/2 cup

Olive oil                                                                 -                 1/2 tsp

Pita breads                                                             -                 2-3 big

Salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C for 10 mins.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients except bread and combine well.

2. Cut each pitas into 4 pieces.

3. Open each of them and fill them with the mix.

4. Layer this on a baking tray and brush olive oil above the breads.

5. Bake this until both the sides are crispy and the meat is well done.

6. This goes well with hummus, Greek yogurt or even ketchup :) :)

Gulab Jamun....!!!

One of my all time favorite Indian dessert!! I go to Indian restaurants and have buffet just to eat their yummy yummy Gulab Jamuns!!!! Its indeed easy to make but you got to be very careful with the way you do... Its all tricky!!!

Ingredients:
For Jamuns:
Milk powder                            -                       1/2 cup
Ghee                                         -                       1 tbsp
Maida                                       -                       1 tbsp.
Rava                                         -                       1 tbsp.
Warm Milk                              -                        2 tbsp. + as required
Lime juice                                -                       1 tsp
Baking soda                             -                       1/4 tsp
Sugar Syrup:
Sugar                                        -                        1 1/2 cup
Water                                        -                         1 cup
Cardamom powder                   -                         1 tsp
Rose water                                -                         1/4  tsp
Saffron                                      -                         4 strands (optional)
Lime juice                                 -                         1 tsp

Method:
Sugar Syrup:
1. In a pan add sugar and water and bring to boil over high heat.
2. Once it starts to boil, reduce the flame to medium - low for 5-8 mins.
3. We don't need it in one string consistency. That means not too thick or not too thin.
4. Once you feel the consistency is as desired, off the flame and add lime juice, cardamom powder and rose water.
Jamuns:
1. In a bowl mix together milk powder, maida, rava and baking soda.
2. Add ghee and lemon juice into this and mix well with your hands until it turns crumby.
3. Add milk little by little until you get a soft dough.
4. Cover and keep aside for 5 mins.
5. Meanwhile heat oil in a pan. This is where you have to be careful. Keep you flame on low and the oil must not be too hot as well. Careful to maintain the temperature.
6. Now you can see your dough might have become a little dry. Add more milk if required.
7. Now make really small balls out of the dough. I got around 22 of them. Don't worry about making tiny balls because it will puff up as you fry and will be double the size when you dip them in the syrup.
8. Deep fry the balls on low heat until golden brown.
9. Drain the excess oil and immediately drop them in to the sugar syrup.
10. Let them soak for minimum of one hour.
11. Serve hot or cold as you like :) :)