Recipe : Vegetable Stir Fry (Vegan)

Since we are now trying to be a bit cautious about our weight, whenever we have over indulged ( by eating out, eating late, eating heavy, eating dessert), the next day I keep the food really light and healthy. so most Mondays end up being fruit or salad days.

One of B's favourite dishes are stir fry's. He loves the fact that the veggies remain crisp, so he doesn't crave something fried for texture.

You can use any combination of vegetables for a stir fry, but the crisper ones are what work best - cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, baby corn, capsicum, beans, carrots are all great options. I love adding mushrooms too for their deeper, earthier flavours.

Your seasoning, can be anything that you like, I am partial to garlic, black pepper, star anise and sichuan pepper in various combinations.

I also tend to use soya sauce for flavouring at the end, so I don't add any salt. You can use your choice of homemade dressings or ready made stir fry / oyster sauce or any combination of sauces that you like. I often add some drops of tabasco sauce, just to up the heat a bit.

While I was making this stir fry last night, husband promised to help with taking some photos. He was very excited with his new phone and its camera features, hence there are some whacky images, that did look interesting, so I'm going to add them at the end. Let me know what you think.

Stir fry's are one of the few rare dishes that i prep for completely before I start to cook. Most times, I keep chopping, washing, cleaning through the process. But given how quickly the veggies cook in this dish, I like to keep my mis-en-place ready before i start.

The order in which the veggies go into the pan is dependent on how long each one needs to cook to your level of doneness.

Ingredients :
1 large bowl of mixed chopped vegetables of your choice
(in this instance I used broccoli, red & yellow peppers, baby corn, cabbage and mushrooms)

 1/2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1" ginger grated
1 tsp pepper pounded coarsely
5-6 Sichuan Peppers pounded coarsely
1 star anise pounded coarsely
soya sauce to taste
natural vinegar / lime juice to taste

Method:
Warm the pan on high heat and add the oil
Drop the chopped garlic and pounded spices into the hot oil and let them splutter and the garlic brown a bit.
Now add the mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, baby corn and bell peppers in order (intervals depend on how well you want each one cooked)
Keep stir frying on high heat until done.
Take the stir fry out into a serving bowl and season with soya sauce, vinegar or sauce of your choice.

Your meal is ready

Below are some of the pictures B took, using the special effects on his phone.

And my favourites of the lot - The Kaleidoscope Effect

This post is also submitted for the Indiblogger & Borosil #BeautifulFood contest

Recipe : Roasted Pumpkin (Vegan)

When we visited Canada a couple of years ago for a cousins wedding, we had a BBQ at U Ossie & Aunty Aureen's house and one of my (many, many) aunts - Belinda (who hates being called "Aunty" by me cause it makes her feel "old" LOL) roasted some butternut squash which was amazingly tasty.

Seeing that we don't get a variety of squashes in India, I hadn't had the opportunity to try making this myself. Today though, I saw some lovely red baby pumpkins in the market and remembering this recipe, I picked one up.

Sadly for me, the pumpkin wasn't ripe enough, so the end product was missing the sweetness, but I think the flavours worked very well and I will ask for help to select a ripe pumpkin next time and retry this recipe.

I could have added some brown sugar to this while baking, but this week is diet week and sugar and sweeteners are off the menu.

Its quite easy to assemble and takes about 10 minutes to prep (depending on the size of your pumpkin) and then another 45 minutes in the oven that you can use to prepare the rest of your meal or just have a bath or a glass of wine while the pumpkin is roasting.

Ingredients :
1/2 kg ripe pumpkin or Squash
6-8 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (you can also use all spice)
1 tsp chilli flakes
sea salt to taste
1/2 tsp of olive oil

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180C / 355F.
Clean and chop the pumpkin (you can retain the separated seeds for roasting)
Place the pumpkin pieces in an ovenproof bowl
Add the chopped garlic, cinnamon powder, chilli flakes, sea salt and olive oil.

Toss or stir till it is all well combined.
I used my hands and gave all the pieces a light massage with the spices.
If you feel the pumpkin isn't sweet enough, add a bit of brown sugar too.

Roast in the oven for 30-55 minutes.
(if you have cut your pumpkin into chunks, it will take closer to 55minutes, if you have sliced it fine, it should be done in around 30 minutes - ripeness of the pumpkin is also a factor in how long it will take to cook)
Serve hot

Kim's Tips for Leftovers :
While, I was roasting the pumpkin in the microwave, I placed the seeds in an ovenproof glass lid and slid it under the wire rack on which the pumpkin dish was placed. The roasted seeds can be lightly seasoned and eaten as a healthy snack or tossed into salads where they provide fibre and crunch.

If you don't feel like eating leftover roasted pumpkin for a second meal, give the pumpkin a whiz in the food processor until finely blended. Add some chicken or vegetable stock (till you get your desired consistency) and bring to a boil with some fresh herbs and cream to garnish.

You can even mix the roasted pumpkin pieces into a green leafy salad for an alternate texture and a sweet flavour that goes well with bitter leaves.

Kim's Tips:
While I piled all the pumpkin into one dish (given the limited size of my microwave oven), the better spaced the pumpkin pieces are, the better will be the caramelisation of the pumpkin.

The skin adds fiber to the dish, but you can remove it if you prefer.

This post is also being submitted for Round 2 of the Indiblogger & Borosil #BeautifulFood Competition

Borosil Contest #BeautifulFood

As most of you who follow my blog know, I was one of the bloggers shortlisted for Round 2 of the Indiblogger and Borosil "My Beautiful Food" Contest

So for Round 2, I had to serve food in the dishes sent to me by Borosil.

There was such excitement at home when the parcel from Borosil & Indiblogger finally arrived. We had been waiting a couple of days, the rains in Ahmedabad had played spoilsport and the roads were inundated, making life difficult for the poor courier delivery guys. Mum and I have been baking and serving dishes in Borosil Glassware for ages and she had been hoping to see the new designs before she left the city.

Everything was beautifully and securely packed and all the fragile glass articles reached me safely via Mumbai - Navi Mumbai - Baroda. That is some really great quality packing.

However, mums & my first reaction on looking at the dishes was "but these are so small!" Neither of us is comfortable cooking in small quantities, we tend to cook large meals and love feeding people. And if we have 4 people coming over for a meal, I will end up cooking about at least 6-8kgs of food. I think this trait has been passed down through my nana's genes. We are more comfortable cooking in large quantities than small ones, although most of the time these days mum and I are cooking for 1-2 people for daily meals, but in this case we serve/paroso onto the plate directly from the kitchen.

So yes, it was a huge challenge to cook in these dishes. But once I started cooking in them, I realised that while they looked small, they did carry a lot of volume 1/2-1kg of food in the serving dishes and a little more than 500 ml in the awesomely cute Baby Gourmet Bowls.

The first opportunity that I got to use these dishes, was the very same evening, since a friend had arrived from Delhi and I served an Andhra style Meal for dinner.

There was a spicy Chicken 65, Kebabs (as starters) Parathas, Biryani, mixed vegetables and a mutton curry, with a salad and some accompaniments.

I was struck by how my accompaniments (Pudina Chutney, Raita, Mirch ka Salan) mirrored the colors of the Indian Flag and used the Borosil Glasses to emphasise the colours

The centrepiece of course was the biryani and I think that transparent glassware, shows Biryani at its best where you can admire all its colours and layers.

Over the following week, I used the dishes to serve whatever was made at home (the contest was an incentive) whenever I remembered to use the dishes and click pictures.

Even something as simple as steamed corn with a chilli-garlic vinaigrette looked so lovely in the Borosil dishes.

And the Baby Gourmet Bowls made my simple tomato soup, look so posh!

The glassware in all these pictures was part of the hamper sent to me as a prize for Round 1 and can be bought on myborosil.com

My Favourite Foods

There are some foods that are my absolute favourites. When I say absolute favourites, I mean, that I can eat them anytime, no matter how full I am or what time of the day or night.

Good food doesn't just satisfy the stomach, its a feast for all the senses.

Visual - it is well presented and beautifully colored without any excess oil or synthetic colors to mar the view.

Kinesthetic - every grain or every bite is just as it should be whether it is the soft smoothness of a rasmalai or a finger dipped in chocolate ganache or buttercream icing or a spicy meet mirsang or the feel of a well set paneer.

Auditory - The crunch of a papad or the crack of a creme brulee.

Olfactory - the aroma of freshly baked bread, piping hot samosas out of the frying pan, the opening of a dum biryani, they all fill the house with such a wonderful aroma, that it is impossible to resist the temptation to dig right in.

Gustatory - And of course, the ultimate test of great food is the taste.

Any food that satisfies all the 5 senses makes for a delectable experience, which leaves me on a complete high. A high on life. So which would be my most zestful food experiences?

5. Chocolate - whether a Cadbury's Dairy Milk Silk or a a Jar of Nutella or a Box of Merci

4. A Great Steak - For me, a Perfect Steak is medium rare. Its cooked just enough, but still has a lovely meaty taste to it and is nice a soft when you bite into it. Just team up a well marinated steak with some Melted Herb Butter and some gorgeous mashed potatoes and it can transport me to heaven.

3. Creme Brulee - The best Creme Brulee's that  have ever eaten were at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Dubai and at the Surya Mahal (Udaivilas Palace) in Udaipur.

2. A Great British Fry Up - The Classic British Breakfast or Eggs, Bacon, Sausages, Toast, Grilled Mushrooms, Baked Beans with maybe some Waffles and Pancakes thrown in for Good Measure and a Lovely Hot Mug of Steaming Coffee!  What's not to love? Its a Perfect Start to the Day, but I can also have it for Lunch or Diner or as a Midnight Snack.

1. My Numero Uno Zest Inducing Food, no Prizes for Guessing is Biryani!
Lucknowi, Mughlai, Malabar, Pakistani, Awadhi, Andhra, Calcutta. The style just doesn't matter. It just needs to be beautifully fragrant rice paired with a delicious well marinated meat, all cooked together to the perfect point. a perfect Biryani is never oily or over colored. Ranging from plain white to bright orange, the colour doesn't matter as long as it tastes yum!

The Best Food is Exciting, Enervating, Energising and Zestful.

So what are YOUR Favourite Foods?

This post is a part of the #ZestUpYourLife activity in association with TATA Zest and BlogAdda.com

Black Food - #WhatTheBlack

Black as a colour in food is often associated with being burnt. As a child, my sister went through a phase where she would assiduously remove every bit of black from her food before she would even begin to eat. Given that mustard and jeera were standard ingredients in the tadkas at home, it often took her longer to pluck out the black grains, than to actually eat her food.

So can black be beautiful in food?

Of course it can!

Case in Point :

1. Chocolate - Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, bitter chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, chocolate biscuits, Black Forest Cake  - they all come in various shades of black and each one is more delicious than the other.

2. Squid Ink - Squid Ink is rapidly gaining popularity or at least curiosity, ever since the Masterchef Australia series started airing on Indian TV. We normally used to discard all of the black bits when cleaning squids, but now it is being used to colour pasta to great acclaim in some parts of the world.

3. Spices - What would an Indian kitchen be without spices? Pepper, cinnamon, cloves, All Spice, Mustard, kala til, kalonji, are all an essential part of Indian cooking and yes, they are all black! Then you also have Vanilla Beans and Licorice (Mulethi) which have very strong flavours, but are much loved.

4. Black Rice - a beautiful nutty rice from Manipur which is excellent in kheers.

5. Some of the most expensive ingredients in the world (excepting saffron) are also black - think Caviar and Black Truffles.

Even common foods like cabbage, mushrooms, potatoes, brinjals come in shades that are almost black, so can you honestly say that black = burnt?

This post is a part of #WhatTheBlack activity at BlogAdda.com

Twinings Green Tea - Lemon & Honey

Ever since my sister got me started on Green Tea as a way to increase my metabolism, I have finally been converted to a tea drinker. Prior to this, I would only have a hot coffee in the peak of winter when I needed to warm myself from the inside, otherwise I never drank hot tea or coffee.

Initially it was tough to drink green tea in the summers, but I now end up having my 3 cups in the night after 11pm. I'm a night bird, who is normally up till 2am or later, so it works for me.

In the mornings, I have one cup of hot water with lemon and ginger with honey, so I was quite excited when Twinings sent me a gift pack of their latest - Lemon & Honey Green Tea, that I was hoping I could have in the mornings.

 

The White Box, that you see in the picture, had a really lovely note written on it:

"Not everybody has a discerning taste for tea.
Not everybody has the detailed knowledge about the finest and the oldest tea makers.
And you being the select few with admirable knowledge on fine tea drinking, make us want to celebrate that classic taste.
Since you are now a true Twinings Connoisseur, we would love to honour you with an exclusive Twinings gift pack.
For that refined taste you share with us and your fine disposition as a tea drinker, you are truly valued and admired.
We would be delighted to bring to you more such surprises..
Stay connected with us through our facebook page.
Enjoy your tea time."

Yes, as you may have guessed by these words, I had won a quiz on tea, held on their facebook page, but don't you just love the wording?

The package arrived in the evening and I couldn't wait until morning to taste it, so we opened it up immediately to try this new flavour.

I have to mention, that I am a huge fan of Twinings black tea in Lemon and Lady Grey Flavours and their green tea in Mint and Jasmine Flavours. The Lemon and Honey was a bit of a disappointment though. While I could taste the lemon, the honey was just the fragrance of honey without any flavour or sweetness, that feels quite weird.

Fabindia's Organic Tea has a sweet flavour in their Tulsi - Sweet Rose tea, that is lovely. This honey tea, did not have any of that sweetness. So this flavour ended up tasting like the regular Twinings Green Tea Lemon, with an aroma of honey thrown in. I'll stick to the Jasmine and mint options for now and have Fabindia's Organic Tulsi Ginger Green Tea in the mornings when I want some tea in the cold weather.

My Fantasy Dinner Party!

Someone asked me, what would be my ideal dinner party menu.

Now, I've cooked for and hosted multiple dinner parties - from sit down dinners for 4 to buffet style dinners for 50+ people. The largest party I've ever hosted though was in 2006 for Diwali in Cairo. Our house was an open house throughout the day - with our closest friends coming in early for a late breakfast and staying on until late night for cards and groups of people who were invited throughout the day, for lunch, tea, puja, dinner or late night snacks. I think the number of people who ate at home that day crossed a 125. And except for a few friends who brought in some dishes for lunch, everything was cooked at home, by me with some assistance from my friends and my aunts who were visiting us.

But coming back to my ideal menu, I considered multiple options, but finally realised that the star of the evening would have to be biriyani - my absolute favourite dish and the rest of the menu would have to revolve around it. Also, my ideal dinner party size would be 10 (including us) - so we could have great freewheeling conversations together, rather than breaking up into smaller groups.

As soon as our friends arrive, we would greet them with chilled strawberry flavoured iced tea in tall Glasses. This will be a lovely way for them to cool down from the blazing heat of Ahmedabad, before the procession of heavy food to follow.

A few bowls of honeyed coconut nuts would be scattered around on the side tables, so people can help themselves to some sweet and spicy, crunchy goodness, while waiting for everyone to arrive and for the hot snacks to be freshly prepared.

The tiranga chicken tikka kebabs would be previously marinated for around 24 hours and freshly grilled when all the guests arrive. Juicy succulent morsels of boneless chicken in 3 flavours. A delicate red chicken tikka in a chilli + ginger garlic paste and yoghurt marinade, a creamy white malai tikka marinated in ginger garlic + cashewnut paste and cream with some kasuri methi and a hariyali tikka with a green chilli and fresh coriander marinade. These would be served in alternating colors in a beautiful chip and dip bowl with a spicy mint chutney in the center.

Next to follow would be beautifully soft and smooth Shikampuri Kebabs in individual Mini Plates. A crisp coating, followed by smooth spicy mutton paste and a surprise of crunchy onions marinated in lime juice at the center.

Jugs of non-alcoholic mojitos and chilled badam milk (we are currently living in a dry state) would be on hand, to cool the mild burn of spices in the kebabs and chutney.

The next course that I would like to offer my friends would be the exotic Hyderabadi speciality of haleem. Mutton and wheat cooked together for hours with special spices until it all blends into one creamy mass of deliciousness, topped with some crisply fried onions and freshly torn mint leaves. Since its easy to get stuffed on just haleem, I would serve it in Individual portions.

The main course of biriyani would be served on the dining table. While 10 people would be a bit of a squeeze, biriyani is meant to be shared at a table. I love assembling the biriyani in a glass Cook and Serve dish, before the final dum. This tends to show off the beautiful layers of milky white rice and rich delicious chunks of chicken in spicy masala. The transparent glass top, gives a peek into the mild yellow saffron stained top layer of rice. And this dish has to be opened at the table. The aroma that escapes when the dish is finally opened is meant to be shared by all and not just a guilty selfish pleasure of the person cooking it.

Bowls of birasta - crisply fried onions with a crunchy texture and sweetish taste and kachumber - a cucumber, tomato, onion and coriander salsa would be on the table, so each guest can serve themselves according to their personal preferences.

Individual katoris of creamy piquant onion and green chilli raita would be served to all.

Given that dinner has only biriyani on the cards, I would go a bit overboard on dessert. A light and airy Mango and Cardamom Cheesecake served in a Fluted dish would be a dessert with Greco-Roman roots, but with Indian flavours.

A large Bowl each of gooey Gajar ka Halwa with crunchy slivers of almonds and a smooth, creamy and soothing Sevvaiyan Paysam / Vermecilli Kheer with little nuggets of fried raisins that pop in the mouth with a burst of flavour.

Our guests could serve themselves, their choice of desserts and I would hope that they would try all 3.

Knowing our friends, we still wouldn't be done talking by the end of dessert, so after such a heavy meal, they would definitely need something to wash it down, while we continued gabbing into the night. While I think that a pot of Suleimani chai or the Bedouin Shai with their minty fresh taste and digestive properties would be perfect for this purpose, I would also offer my guests a selection of green teas.

We would be forced to say goodbye around 5am, so that we could get a couple of hours of shuteye before the next days program begins.

So, what would your ideal dinner party be?

-------------------------
This is my entry for the My beautiful food contest on Indiblogger.

Happy to share that I am one of the 50 bloggers shortlisted for Round 2 from over 350 entries.

My Recipe in the February Issue of Caldron

My Recipe for Manglorean Sweet Pulao / Pilaf has been featured in the in the 'Love Bites' section of the February 2014 issue of Caldron - an online food magazine.

You can view the magazine : http://tinyurl.com/l8kkovg

My recipe is on page 54. Unfortunately, my own photo, is the one I use for general social media, where I don't show my face and the magazine picked that one up  :)

Bacardi Breezer Cranberry #Catchtheflavour

Bacardi Breezer is currently running an online contest #CatchTheFlavour, where they have asked bloggers to choose their favourite flavour from Jamaican Passion, Lime, Cranberry, Orange, Blackberry Crush and Island Pineapple.

When I first tried to participate, only positions on Team Pineapple were open, but Pineapple is my 3rd favourite flavour among the breezers. So I waited for a week and lo & behold, my first choice Team Cranberry had spots open again. YAY!!!

While I cannot buy or drink Breezers in Ahmedabad where we have been based for the last year and a half, I still enjoy them whenever I travel out of Gujarat, which is at least once a month.

I've always been a rum drinker and these pre mixed drinks by Bacardi (the first entrant in this segment in India) are perfect for parties. You don't have to mix them and serve them in fancy glasses (which you always worry will start getting broken as the night wears on) or in plastic cups (while worrying that you might come across as a a cheap/lazy host/hostess).

You just chill them in the fridge and open and serve, what could be easier?

The fruit flavours that they come in, also psychologically feel like they are healthier and less toxic than the normal aerated mixers.

Coming to the Cranberry Bacardi Breezer, why is it my favourite?
1. Its base is Bacardi Rum (so what if its only 2% alcohol in India, if I want something stronger, I top up my breezer with a little more Bacardi)
2. Cranberry juice is supposed to be great for women and specifically for urinary tract health (couple this with the fruity goodness and its easy to convince yourself, that this drink is good for you and your health)
3. I love the tangy, yet sweet, with a slight hint of bitterness flavour of the Cranberry version.

Yes the pineapple version has it too, but without the puckering effect of cranberry.

So, if you've been paying close attention, you now know what my 1st and 3rd choices are, what do you think my second most favourite flavour is?

PS: I'm waiting for Bacardi to introduce the watermelon, coconut, chocolate, pinacolada and raspberry flavours in India too.

Note: Pictures are downloaded from the web for representational purposes only, since I don't have access to the real bottles here in Gujarat.

First Runner Up - Delmonte Blogger Recipe Carnival

My recipe for Pasta with Chargrilled Pepper Sauce, won First Runner Up Place at the Delmonte Blogger Recipe Carnival.

The entries and the rest of the winners can be seen at the : indiblogger site

Recipe: Pasta with Chargrilled Pepper Sauce

On 6 Nov 2012 - This Recipe took First Runner Up Place at the Delmonte Blogger Recipe Carnival

The other day, I wanted to cook a vegetarian pasta in a sauce, but I didn't want to cook the regular white sauce or tomato sauce, so I decided to try out a chargrilled pepper sauce for a change.

I'd initially thought that scorching and peeling the peppers would be tough, but it was actually quite easy and doesn't take too much time. If you have a grill or BBQ, then charring the peppers will be faster and easier, I just did it on the regular gas flame.

Ingredients:
200gms Del Monte pasta (I've now switched to using whole wheat pasta only)
4 large red peppers (laal shimla mirch)
1 handful nuts (traditionally pine nuts, but cashewnuts can work as a substitute)
1-2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp butter
2 tbsp flour
6-8 cloves garlic - minced fine
2 tsps of mixed Italian dry herbs (oregano, rosemary, thyme, chives - whatever combination you like)
500 ml milk
15-20 leaves of fresh basil
cheese to taste
parmegianno regianno to garnish - optional


Method:
Rub a little oil on the peppers and roast or grill them until they are charred all over.
You need to sweat the charred peppers for a few minutes, so you can peel off the skin. You can sweat it out in a sealed ziploc bag or a pan with a tight shutting lid.
Peel the skin off the peppers. Keep your hands as clean as possible, because you don't want to wash the peppers and lose the concentrated sweet roasted flavour.
Deseed the peppers and puree the flesh.

Dry roast the nuts and then powder them. (If you do this before pureeing the peppers, you can use the same bowl for pureeing and powdering and save washing a dish)

In a pan, heat the olive oil and butter together.
Fry the garlic until brown & then and the dried herbs and flour.
Take it off the heat when the flour begins to brown and slowly add the milk, so that there are no lumps.
Put it back on the heat.
Then add the red pepper puree and mix gently but thoroughly.
You can add some melting cheese if you like to the sauce, but you can keep it light by not adding any cheese either.
Cook the sauce until it is sufficiently thickened and then add the basil leaves after turning off the heat.

Cook the Del Monte pasta in boiling salted water until it reaches your preferred level of doneness.
Drain and rinse in cold water.

Add the hot sauce to the Del Monte pasta, garnish with parmegiano reggiano and serve with your choice of sides.

This rescipe has also been submitted for the Del Monte Blogger Recipe Carnival at http://www.facebook.com/worldfoody

2 Cookbook Prizes in a Week

Looks like the Diwali season has brought its own foodie blessings upon me. I had entered 2 food contests last week, before I left on my diwali trip to the inlaws place and both results came within 24 hours - since yesterday. I won them both. Yay!

The first contest was hosted by Rushina of A Perfect Bite. She had asked her readers "If you could be a spice, what would you be and why?
Best answer wins a copy of The Mainland China Cookbook!
I'd like to be a pod of garlic or a fiery chilli - unforgettable and addictive!"

My response was "Cinnamon - I go well with everything (sweet, savoury, drinks) and just add a subtle hint, yet my presence is not unnoticed. Also enjoyable completely undiluted and a bit of me, can be relished for hours leaving behind a fresh feeling."

So thats the Mainland China cookbook in the mail for me. I'm really happy with this one as it was released just a month or so ago and I haven't been able to find it in any of the Delhi bookstores or Flipkart either. Was thinking I would have to trek to Gurgaon to eat at Mainland China and check up if they had any books in stock. Given the high possibility of non availability, I've been postponing that for a bit :)





The Second Contest was held by Pratibha Jain and Jigyasa Giri of Pritya Books, the authors of 2 wonderful collections of Heritage Recipes: Cooking with Pedatha and Sukham Ayu. The Ayurvedic Cookbook - Sukham Ayu stood second in the category of  "Best Health & Nutrition Cookbook in the World" by the Gourmand awards (2009) organization.

The Contest asked "Can you think of a traditional, vegetarian, festival dish which is your favourite? Write a description and your reasons for liking it in 100 words".

Well, I do love to write about food and there are plenty of festive dishes that are so much a part of my memory. The best memories and experiences of cooking festive foods was the assembly line of my mom, her sisters and some of the kids that was set up around the dining table under the eagle eye of my grandma (to whom this blog is dedicated) - who supervised the proceedings and of course the sneaking of bits and bites of the fillings and batter during the processes.

Now to choose just one, a Vegetarian one (all dishes with eggs were out) and to describe it within 100 words, seemed nigh impossible. But this is what I finally sent in: "Kidiyos (khulkhuls) - maida and coconut milk shaped into little worms (kidis) on the back of a fork and then deep fried are my favourite kuswar (Christmas Goodies). As a special treat, one batch would be dipped in sugar syrup and left to crystallise. These treated kidiyos would have the sweet crunch of a layer of frosted sugar, followed by the crisp outer shell that had been deep fried and the soft heart that had not been directly exposed to the boiling oil. A combination of textures and flavors that even today make me miss grandma more than ever.

It won FIRST place. You can take a look at the other entries on The Contest Page. I would love to hear your favourites too, so leave me a comment.

I'm now waiting for my copies of the Mainland China Cookbook and Sukham Ayu.

Recipe: Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream

I'd bought some Mahabaleshwar strawberries the other day from GNB and they were lying in the fridge as husband wasn't feeling enticed enough to eat them. Then I saw Sanjana's Food Charm Giveaway Contest aka KO Rasoi’s ‘Wear Your Food’ competition which propelled me to create something with the strawberries (one of the charms on that bracelet).

Because of his current (temporary) diet restrictions, he has been trying really hard to avoid desserts, so I thought about creating a sweet suprise with strawberries that would be low on added sugar, zero refined flour and minimal cream/butter/fat.

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream seemed the perfect answer to fit all 3.

An online search revealed that David Lebovitz's Recipe was the most adapted, so it seemed like a good starting point.

This was my first attempt at making ice cream, so I improvised a lot as I went along. So, not all the ingredients are visible in my first picture :)

Ingredients:
1/2 a kilo of strawberries cleaned and sliced (it doesn't matter if you feel like eating some as you go along, go ahead)
I saw recipes that called for cooking the strawberries before mashing them, but decided against using this extra step. I think it gave a fresher taste to the ice cream.
400gm jar of Nestle/Amul Dahi (yoghurt) - this is standard size
a few sliced pistachios
some honey
2-3 tsp sugar
2 tsp vodka (optional)

Preparation:
Slice the strawberries and toss them with the vodka and sugar.

(I almost added Absolut Peppar, in my hurry - wonder how that would have tasted?)
I would have avoided the sugar completely but the mass opinion seemed to be, that adding sugar to the berries made the end product redder. Something to do with oxidation I guess. But next time, I will use Stevia/Sugar Free, but only if the strawberries aren't sweet enough.
Hang the curd/yoghurt in a muslin cloth and let the whey drain out.
I did this both simultaneously and left them for 2 hours, occassionally tossing the strawberries.
At the end of 2 hours, the strawberries had reddenned from their previous pinkish tinge as seen below.

Puree the strawberries.
I used the hand held mixer for the whole process. But given the amount of liquid these strawberries manage to emanate, I may just pulverise them in a liquidiser next time, to save myself the splashing.
The liquid was a really deep red.

As I mentioned earlier, these weren't the freshest strawberries, so I ran the liquid through a sieve to take off the skins that hadn't completely disintegrated. You can see in the picture below, that I had a lot of stuff that needed to be taken out although I might have got a finer end product and less wastage, if I used the liquidiser.

If your strawberries are fresh you may not need this step.
If you hate the feel of seeds in your ice cream, then you will want to sieve the liquid through a slightly finer wire mesh.

Since I had already sieved the strawberry juices into another bowl, I decided to start with the hung curd and slowly add the juice to prevent major splashing.

As you can see, the hung curd is really thick, almost like cottage cheese. The more whey you remove from the yoghurt, the creamier will be the end product.
If your strawberries aren't too tart, you may like to add a squeeze of lemon juice to the mix.
Gradually add the strawberry juice and beat lightly till you have a creamy mixture, darkish pink in color.

If you have an icecream maker, this would be the time to use it.

I don't have an ice cream maker (yet) so I had to do the - take out of freezer every 30mins and whip again to break up icicles routine.
You can use an immerision blender, or old fashioned elbow grease and a whisk for this.
Since the water had been drained out of the yoghurt, I just did this twice. The second time I saw that there weren't too many icicles.
So at this stage (when no more whipping was in order) I added the sliced pistachios and gently folded them in
Then I added some honey and folded it in.
(This inspiration came from some honey in an ice cream I ate recently and I loved the texture of the frozen honey, plus this adds a bit of sweetness. Unfortunately, the honey I had, may not have been of very good quality because I saw it release a little water when I next took it out of the freezer. It did taste fab though)
The pistachios will powder if you whip them and you want the honey to remain in streaks, not blended into the ice cream.
You can even add some bits of fruit at this stage if you want a fresher feel in the ice cream.

Serve garnished with pistachios/honey/mint sprigs/strawberries.

Its slightly melted, because it took me awhile to get the picture, but if you look on the right half, you get an idea of the texture.

This recipe gave me roughly 1/2 a liter of ice cream. Will definitely double quantities next time. With the amount of time and effort needed, might as well make a big batch
This is an ideal way to use up leftover fruit (semi pulpy - berries, mangoes, kiwi), especially in the summers. And with the temperature here touching 40C, it is a very welcome treat any time of the day.

Equipment that may be of help: