A Cook's Journey

Paruppu Usili/ Patoli (Beans with steamed gram)

2009-09-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Two days back I tried Palakura Pappu and not pachadi since I did not have the ingredients. I added a little too much palak and that dominated over other flavors. I should try it again to get it right.

Today I made Patoli from "The Best Vegetarian Cookbook", Cooking at home with Pedatha.
It came out well. But I made a few mistakes, probably because it is my first time.
I steamed the dal in a pressure cooker, but the bottom of the cooker burnt :( Luckily this dint pass on the burnt flavor to the dal above it, so I was able to get most of the dal mixture. May be I should place the dal in a smaller vessel inside the cooker and steam it. Also, I added a little extra asafoetida. But it tastes delicious. I love it and I love Pedatha. It tastes like my paati's Paruppu usili

2 recipes over. 59 to go :)

Julie and Julia + My similar venture with "Cooking at home with Pedatha"

2009-09-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

I am sure everyone watched Julie and Julia this summer. I came out of the theater ravenously hungry. I did learn a lot of new things like the mushrooms should be apart from each other in the pan, for them to brown.
I actually read the book "Julie and Julia - My year of cooking dangerously", two years ago. I am inspired to make my final boring semester more delicious and colorful. I am going to try out all the recipes from a South-Indian cookbook: Cooking at home with Pedatha. This is a collection of vegetarian recipes from the traditional Andhra Pradesh kitchen. I love AP food and I am going to try them. I am not setting any deadline for this because I already have infinte other deadlines to handle.

So the first recipe is going to be "Palakoora Pachadi" or Spinach chutney. This is made from spinach and tamarind extract. I will share with you frequently the list of recipes I tried from the book and my experiences.

Refreshing Desserts

2009-08-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

My recent favorite: http://diettogo.com/blog/dessert-anyone-master-chef-shares-his-favorite-dessert-recipes
This is a chef's collection of his favorite and refreshing dessert recipes. He calls his dessert recipes "refreshing". I found it very interesting, because normally people call the healthy soups, salads, smoothies and juices refreshing, not a dessert. And desserts are meant to be rich, sugary, buttery smooth, fine and rich which satisfies your palate and fills your appetite. But his dessert choices are indeed very light and refreshing, delight yet sin-free. It includes strawberry shortcake, merlot-poached pears, panacotta with berries.

Enjoy these fruit delicacies with no guilt.

Aromatic Indian Green Curry

2009-05-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

This might sound like the Thai green curry, but it is not. We are not going to add any lemon grass. It has the rich flavor of coriander. It is a very mildly spicy dish.

Ingredients
-----------
To grind
--------
coriander leaves - 2 cups
green chillies -2
lemon juice - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic past - 1 tsp

vegetables for the gravy
------------------------
1 cup cut baby corn
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cut capsicum
1 onion finely chopped

Other ingredients
------------------
oats - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method
-------
Half-boil the vegetables. Grind the mentioned ingredients. Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions till golden brown. Add the vegetables and oats. Bring it to a boil and simmer and cook covered for 5 min until the vegetables are boiled completely. Now add the coriander paste and salt to taste. Bring it to a boil and remove from fire.

This tastes good with rice or rotis. It is very healthy and tasty too. I got this idea of using oats to get the consistency from a Tarla Dalal's recipe. Do not add too much of oats; the gravy will become pasty (like uncooked lady's finger :) )

Summer Special

2009-05-20T02:22:00.000-07:00

I love summers for the bright sun and the cold drinks. My grandmom gets us coconut water everyday. Mom makes fresh lemonades. And not to forget, all the juices in college and on the way. Summers are the best. But it can be really troublesome if you do not keep your system cool. The skin also loses a lot of moisture and tans. Proper food takes care of us.

I have two nice summer recipes : Mint lemonade and Strawberry Banana Smoothie.
Lemonade refreshes your system and the smoothie keeps you full and thirst-free while maintaining the beauty of your skin.

Mint lemonade (Serves 4)

Ingredients
-----------
lemons - 2
mint leaves - 5
Sugar - 2 tsp
Water - 4 cups

Method
------
Extract the juice from the lemons. Chop the mint leaves and place it in the lemon extract. Leave it for 15 minutes.
Filter the mint leaves and add sugar. Mix well. Divide the extract equally in 4 glasses. Add cold water or fill it up with ice.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Strawberries are rich in Vitamin C and antioxidants.

Almonds are rich in Vitamin E which is the main food for skin. Both of these help to keep your skin healthy and shining.

The bananas keep you full for longer.

Ingredients
-----------
Bananas - 4
Strawberry - 4
Strawberry essence /syrup - 3 tsp
Vanilla - 1 tsp
Almonds - 2 to 4

Method
------
Cut the bananas in to halves and place them in a mixer. Add the strawberries, strawberry syrup and almonds and grind well. Add the vanilla essence and grind for a few more seconds.
Pour it in milk shake glasses and serve.

Have a fantastic summer.

Bhakri (with Rice)

2009-05-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get better at this, especially the pictures. Try this one.

I am on a vacation to India (atlast). I thought initially that I'd give a list of dishes to mom and eat them one after another till I burst :) But the problem is that she is an expert cook and she will probably make all of them in a single day and make me eat them. So I decided to cook something different everyday during the vacation. This is my first trial.

Bhakri

Ingredients
------------
Rice flour filling
------------------
Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Green chilly
coriander leaves chopped - 2 tbsp
mint leaves chopped - 1 tsp
grated carrot - 1/2 cup

Rotis
------
Wheat flour - for making the rotis.

Method
-------
Mix water, salt and wheat flour to make rotis. Make the balls out of the dough.

Boil the water, salt and oil in a tava (heavy bottomed vessel) and add the rice flour. Mix well until the mixture leaves the sides of the vessel. Remove from heat. Add the grated carrot, chilly, coriander leaves and the mint leaves and mix well. Make 6 balls out of it.

Roll the roti dough. Place the rice flour dough at the center and fold the sides to make a small bag. Now roll it again using a rolling pin.

Toast it in the tava with a teaspoon of oil.
Serve hot with Sabzi or Tomato ketchup .

This is the first time I tried this recipe. My mom helped me a lot, infact she made it all so fast. There were no difficulties. Make sure that the water is boiling and then add the rice flour or it may form lumps.

Kesari (Kesari Bath) - Semolina Pudding

2009-05-17T06:29:00.001-07:00

This is a colourful and delicious South Indian sweet which is simple to make. My grandmom makes this whenever we have unexpected guests and very little time :) We love it.

Here's the recipe

Ingredients

Semolina (rava) 1 cup
Sugar 2 cups
Water 3 cups
saffron 10 strands
cashewnuts, almonds, pistachio, dried grapes
ghee 2 tbsp
orange food colour

Method

Dry roast the rava till it is golden brown. This is a must-do or there will be lumps in the kesari otherwise. The nice aroma of the rava fills the room. Boil the water in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the rava and stir until the rava is completely cooked. This will take about 5-10 min. Add the sugar and food colour and keep stirring. Add a little ghee if it becomes sticky. Remove from fire

Heat the ghee and roast the dried grapes, cashews, almonds, pistachios and add them to the cooked kesari.

Decorate with saffron on top.

This is quick and easy and fit for all occassions. It looks very grand too.

Payasam vs Rice Pudding

2009-05-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

I love the rich payasam mom makes. It has soaked rice, almonds, cashew and pistachios. I was in Starbucks a few days back in Pittsburgh. I was glancing through he pages of Jamie Oliver's recent cookbook and found an amazing "payasam"-like recipe.

Payasam is found in all festivals, celebrations in India. It is called "Kheer" in North India and payasam in South India. It all started several centuries back when Lord Krishna came in the disguise of a sage to a king in Kerala who loved to play chess. He challenged the king for a chess match and told him that if He wins, He will get 1 grain for the first square in the chessboard and double the number of grains from the second square till the last. The king agreed. He lost the game and thought that he can give away a few grains to the sage. But he realised that he cannot keep up his promise since the total number of grains was several trillions. He was shocked and very upset. Krishna revealed his true identity and cancelled the King's debt but told him that he has to give payasam to anyone who comes to the Ambalapuzha temple in Kerala. Till date they serve payasam in the Ambalapuzha temple.

The famous English "rice pudding" is supposedly copied from payasam but not sure if it is true.

Here is a nice variation of the payasam by Jamie Oliver.

Make the regular payasam recipe with vanilla sugar. Instead of raisins roasted in ghee, add fresh wild strawberries and strawberry jam. The "rice pudding", as he calls it, will be served cold with the hot jam. Instead of the roasted nuts, crumble a few meringues and sprinkle it on top.

Recipe for the Strawberry jam :http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/creamy-rice-pudding-with-the-quickest-strawberry-jam-recipe/index.html

Hope you enjoyed the recipe and the little bit of information :)

Vegetable Pie

2009-03-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I picked from the "Vegetarian Christmas" magazine. It tasted great and is very nutritious too.

Ingredients:

For the filling
Onions - 2
Parsnip - 2
Carrots - 2
Red Lentils - 1 cup
Vegetable Stock - 1 liter
chopped tomatoes - 2 cups

For the topping
Potatoes - 4
spring onions - 1 bunch
milk - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Cheddar Cheese - 1 cup

In a large pan, add a little olive oil and saute the vegetables. Add the red lentils to it and fry for a min. Add the vegetables stock and bring it to a boil. Simmer and cover and boil it for 20-25 min stirring it regularly. Remove the lid and add salt and pepper (or other herbs like Thyme, Oregano or Rosemary) and cook for another 5 min until it is pasty.

Half-boil the potatoes and mash them. In a pan, add milk, onion and butter and keep stirring. When it comes to a boil, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove it from fire and the mashed potatoes. Add 3/4 of the cheddar cheese.

Use a vegetable spray to grease a round baking pan. Spoon the vegetable and lentil mixture to it. Top it with the potato mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar on top of it. Bake it in the oven for 25-30 min.

It is delicious. There are about a 100 recipes in the BBC GoodFood "Vegetarian Christmas" magazine. Try to get a copy.

One pot recipes

2009-03-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

Since I am a student at CMU (which is the No.1 Homework Giver :-|), I have absolutely no time to do elaborate cooking. Everyday it is just one pot 20 min cooking. I tried a lot of new recipes and I am sharing two of the successful ones with you.

Rajma Masala (Duration : 30 min, Your time : 10 min, Cooker's time : 20 min)

Ingredients:

Rajma (no need to soak, as long as it is not Kashmiri Rajma) - 2 cups
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Kasoori methi - 2 tbsp
Tomato puree - 3 tbsp
Red chillies - 2 (broken in to 2 pieces each)
Salt - a pinch
turmeric - a pinch
Cilantro/coriander - 1 cup (chopped)
butter - 1 tsp
oil - to fry the cumin seeds
water - 5 cups

Method:

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Fry the cumin seeds and the red chillies. Add kasuri methi, fry for a min on low flame. Add coriander powder, turmeric, cumin powder, and fry for 30 seconds. Add the rajma and then the tomato puree. Add 5 cups water. Let it boil. Then close the lid of the pressure cooker and pressure cook it up to 7-8 whistles (which is basically 20 - 25 min). Turn off the gas.
Release the pressure and then remove the lid. Turn on the gas and add salt. Add little more water if required and leave it for another 2-3 min. Remove from flame. Add butter and coriander. Ready to serve.

Tastes best with rice.

Tomato Basil Angel Hair Pasta (Cooking time - 10 min)

Ingredients:

Tomato Basil Puree (or Tomato Garlic Basil or other Italian tomato sauces) - 2 cups
zuchchini - 1 sliced
Mushrooms - 1 cup sliced
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup grated
Salt to taste
Angel Hair Pasta - a bunch
Parsley - 1/2 cup chopped

Method:

Cook the pasta according the instructions. In the mean time, heat olive oil in a pan, add the sliced vegetables and cook for about 2 min. Add the Tomato Basil puree and mix it well for a min. Add the cooked pasta to it and stir it well. Add parmesan cheese on top while it is hot. Add the chopped parsley. It makes a yummy dinner.

I do not have pictures for these, but trust me, they tasted great.

Old Fashion Chocolate Cake

2009-03-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Nigella Lawson. I consider her the Goddess of cooking. I have watched all episodes of her shows in Discovery Travel and Living.
This is one of my favorite recipes. I recently made this cake for friends and they loved it. The secret ingredient is sour cream. I used it both for the cake and the icing.

I am not going to write down the recipe, because it is best when told by Nigella herself. Check out the video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-obgix23Y

Long time !

2008-11-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Back to School. I have neither the time to write the blog nor to cook elaborate dishes.
But I have tweeked quite a few recipes based on the popular ingredients in the place. Some of them that came out really well are

1. Rava upma with sweet corn (I added boiled sweet corn after adding rava to boiling hot water). It added a nice sweet flavor to the spicy upma.

2. This was a dish which my friend tried and it came out really well. She bought the canned beans (red beans which has jaggery) and cooked it with onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and garam masala. It was awesome since it had a hot and sweet flavor.

3. Lime rasam - make lemon rasam but substitute lemon juice with lime juice. This was also very tasty. (Add more pepper since lime does not have a very strong flavor)

Anyway, what helps us most as of now are the podis we got from home and the vethal kuzhambu paste :)

I would not be doing justice to all the money I spent on restaurants in Bangalore if I dont write about them. I will do it whenever I find time next.

Birthday Season

2008-06-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

The birthday season has set in, at least in my friend's circle. Hmmm, but you can check some interesting statistics in this page :P

So, now that its proven there are maximum birthdays in the month of June - July, let us bake cakes :)

I baked one for my friend's birthday and one for mine.
Here are the two recipes..

Mocha Sandwich cake

Ingredients
--------------
200 gm flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp cocoa
100 gm superfine sugar
2 eggs
150 ml oil
150 ml milk

Sandwich mixture :
2 tbsp strong coffee
300 ml fresh cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 cup milk chocolate

Decoration :
1/2 cup milk chocolate

Method
--------

Sift the baking powder, flour and cocoa. Make a well in the center and add the eggs, oil and milk. Beat until well blended. Take two baking tins. Grease them with butter. Pour half of the mixture in one tin and the other half in the other tin. Bake them till a wood pick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from tin and cool the cakes completely.

Whip the cream well with the sugar. Melt the chocolate in the double boiler. Add the chocolate to the cream and add the coffee also, mix well. Use half of this to sandwich the cakes and use the other half on top of the cake.
For decorating, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. And pour it over a greased plate. When it starts solidifying, start cutting shapes and place them on the mocha icing. :)

Experiences
-------------

This cake came out very well. While melting the chocolate, if it sticks to the bottom, add a tsp of cream and continue melting.
Make sure the cake tins are properly greased, so that the cakes don't stick to the bottom. Also cool the cakes completely before icing.
I refrigerated the cake overnight because I could take it to my friend only next morning. It was just as good in the morning. :)

I was too tired to take pictures that night. But I have a picture of my birthday cake.

Decadent Chocolate cake with fruit sauce

Ingredients
------------
2 eggs
1/2 cup cooking chocolate
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter

Frosting :
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp of any fruit liquer

Fruit sauce :
Any fruit jam
Corn starch

Decoration :
Fresh cream

Method
--------
Melt the chocolate with butter and mix it with the flour, sugar and eggs. Mix well and pour in a prepared pan. Bake till a wood pick inserted comes out clean.

For the fruit sauce : Melt the jam and add a little bit of corn starch and remove from fire in about less than a minute.

For the frosting : Melt the butter and chocolate and add sugar and the liquer. Pour over the cake so that it flows a little on the sides of the cake.

Pour half of the fruit sauce on top of cake and the rest on the serving plate.
Top the cake with cream.

Experiences
-------------
This was a really delicious cake, because there is so much chocolate..
Do the frosting and decoration just before serving, or it will be a little hard. If you do not want it to be hard, add more butter when you are melting chocolate for the frosting.

Chocolate Walnut Bars

2008-06-01T04:31:00.000-07:00

Today suddenly all of us had a craving for chocolate and the majority votes went for brownies. Brownies frequent our palates quite a bit, so I decided to make choco walnut bars. I baked this for the first time.
Cooking time : 30 -45 minutes
Makes 12 bars

Ingredients
------------

For Walnut base :
1 cup walnuts
1 1/4 cup sugar (superfine)
1/2 cup flour
3 tbsp butter

For Topping :
slightly less than 1/4 cup cocoa
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
sweet almond essence
a pinch of salt

Method
--------

Walnut base :
Grind the walnuts with a few teaspoons of sugar. Add the rest of the sugar and the flour and add butter one tablespoon at a time and mix wel. The mixture must resemble bread crumbs.
Butter a baking dish and spread this in the dish. Press it slightly on the top. Bake it in the microwave for 4-5 minutes or till the base is browned slightly.

For the topping :
Heat water in a pan, melt the butter. Add cocoa and sugar. Remove it from fire. Add salt, essence (1 drop) and whisk it. Add the egg and whisk it well. Pour it over the walnut base and bake in the microwave for about 10 minutes (or until set). Cool it for a little while. Cut the bars but don't transfer until completely cooled.
For decoration, dust superfine sugar on top.

Experiences
-------------
This dish must come out very well in the conventional oven. I notice that at times when you bake biscuits in the microwave , it burns around the edges. This could be because of the improper mixing of butter with the other ingredients. Make sure you dont burn the base, spoils the taste of the bars.
Add a drop/half a drop of essence, since the sweet almond essence is very strong. You can substitute this with vanilla essence.
If you din't know earlier, salt enhances the sweet flavour of the dish, so don't ignore it. :)
I cut the bars into half making squares, you can choose to leave them rectangular.

Its really delicious.. Finals of IPL with chocolate walnut bars......

Sikkim Special

2008-05-24T03:48:00.000-07:00

I was in Sikkim for a week. Awesome place, completely eco-friendly : sparkling streams and lakes, clean streets (though there are very few), plastic-free, etc.. The state is built on mountains, most of them snow-clad throughout the year. I visited North and East Sikkim and din't find much vegetation there. The Yakla region in East Sikkim is covered with Alpine trees and there is an Alpine sanctuary too. Cardamom grows in some of the mountains and you get them for really cheap. North Sikkim had some flowers, not any fruits or vegetables. I asked some of the localites, they get their vegetables from West Bengal. I did not see any truck that carries these vegetables and fruits; tourist vehicles supposedly carry them for individual families :)

Favortie food of Sikkimese : Momos, Chowmein, Noodles

They do not prefer rice or rotis because they get frozen quickly.
I got rotis and rice in the hotels I stayed, but wasn't great. The food in general is VERY spicy.

Momos are small parcels made of rice flour filled with vegetables, prawn, chicken or fish. These are served with chopped red chillies in red chilly paste. You get these everywhere. Don't mind the extra oil, or these small momos will be too hard.

Chowmein is noodles with soy sauce and other masala garnished with fried noodles. Many people do not like the very concentrated soy flavor of this dish. Be aware, there will be a layer of fried green chillies in between.

Rotis are made of Maida and the dal has more turmeric than required. The curries for the rotis and rice are mostly made of potatoes mixed with some vegetable like capsicum or onion(in minimal quantity). People prefer sea food to vegetarian. They served hot and nice poha for breakfast. We do not get many fruits, I did not have even a single fruit during my trip. You also have to inform the hotel in advance if you need curd/buttermilk. They do not store any. I was surprised to find that Sikkimese do not have curd/fruits because they feel colder. You get nice hot chai (Dargeeling Tea) in all places.

Don't worry too much about the oil or the potatoes, they just melt away as you happily walk around the places and trek the hills.

Vanilla - How only a very few get to taste the real !

2008-05-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

The vanilla milk shake, ice cream, flavor in hot chocolate that most of us have is not made from real vanilla pods.

Introduction :
Vanilla (derived from Vainilla in Spanish, meaning 'little pod') is grown in the island, Madagaskar, in the Indian Ocean. Earlier, vanilla was grown in large quantities in Mexico, infact that is where it originated. Very little quantities are grown there now.

Process :
Vanilla is a vine that grows on other trees and is a hermaphrodite, however the male and the female organs are separated by a thin membrane and the vanilla flowers pollinate only by a certain kind of bee in Mexico. People were unsuccessful in getting that bee to different places and then they found a way of artificial pollination. The vanilla flowers bloom and stay just for a day and the pods have to be plucked within that day, which makes the vanilla extraction a laborious process.

Vanilla supposedly has some medicinal properties, though not proven. When consumed, increases the adrenaline in the body and can be addictive.

Do you believe it ? 95 % of the vanilla products in the world are made from artificial vanilla, produced from lignin.

Find a lot of interesting facts about vanilla, visit the following sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla
http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/gewuerze/vanille/vanille.htm

Perfect Veththal Kuzhambu

2008-05-01T02:47:00.000-07:00

I have tried Veththal Kuzhambhu atleast a fifty times, only the last few times it has come out the way my mom makes it. She makes it just perfectly and the tangy flavor just spreads everywhere, literally everywhere :)

Serves 2
Cooking time : 45 min

Ingredients
------------
tamarind - size of one lemon
10 small onions peeled
3 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp Gingelly oil
3 tbsp Sambhar powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp rice flour
salt to taste

For Tempering
---------------
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
3 red chillies
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (venthayam)
10 curry leaves
1 pinch asafoetida

Method
--------
Extract the tamarind in 3 cups of water.
Heat the gingelly oil in a tava. Add the ingredients for tempering one after another. Keep stirring till they fry.
Add the garlic and the onions and fry till the onions become golden brown. Add turmeric and sambar powder and fry for a minute. Add the tamarind water immediately after this.
Keep boiling in high for 15-20 minutes (until it thickens and the oil separates out on this sides). Add salt to taste (3 tsps)

Mix the rice flour in a 1/4 cup water. Pour it into the boiling kuzhambu. Boil for another 5-10 minutes.
Can store in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
Best tastes with rice.

Experiences
-------------
I make this mostly in the oven and never tasted as good as the ones I made in the stove.
Also do not substitute gingelly oil with any other oil, the flavor of the veththal kuzhambu comes only with this oil.
You can substitute small onions with manathakaali and that is really good. It can also be substituted with carrots, this gives a mild sweet taste to the kuzhambu.

Palak Corn (Spinach corn gravy)

2008-04-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Palak corn is our favorite dinner; its loaded with iron and calcium and its very delicious too.
This is a healthy version of the recipe.

Cooking time : <30 min
Serves 2

Ingredients
------------

One big bunch of palak
1 cup sweet corn
4 garlic pods
1 tsp ginger paste
1/2 green chilly
3 tsp garam masala
2 cloves
a small cinnamon stick
black cardamom
1 tsp oil
1/2 cup of whole milk
2 tbsp water
salt to taste

Method
--------
Boil the sweet corn with a pinch of salt in the oven for 10 minutes.
Chop the onions. Slice the green chilly. Wash the palak thoroughly, once with tap water, twice with drinking water.
Pressure cook the onions, green chilly, garlic pods and spinach for one whistle.
Grind the palak mixture for less than a minute (it must not be very fine)
Heat oil in a pan. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom. Fry till they crackle and add the giner paste. Add the palak mixture and fry for a minute.
Add the garam masala, mix well. Add the milk and salt. Boil for about 2-3 minutes.
Add a small spoon of fresh cream to garnish.
Serve it with rotis or rice.

Experiences
------------
We always used to saute the spinach with onions and tomatoes and then grind them, and always used to think why the color was not as green as they serve in restaurants. Then we discovered this method of cooking from bawarchi website. Minimal boiling of vegetables retains all their nutrients and color. This version has a rich green color.
Earlier we also used to add curd instead of milk, it gave a tangy flavor. We like the flavor or spinach with milk better. Do not add skimmed milk as the gravy will become to watery and whole milk also gives a rich taste.
My friend hates it if he accidentally chews any of the spices. So you can add a tsp of 'all spice' powder. Add this after you put the palak in the oil.
We are major health freaks and so we add very little low fat cream.
For healthy skin and feel good factor, do not have very spicy food.

False myth : Salt helps you put on weight
Truth : It doesnt. Unlike sugar, it does not have any calories. When you have more salt, you feel very thirsty and so you drink more water and feel bloated. (Courtesy : Varun Madduri :) )

Dark Chocolate Vodka pots - pictures

2008-04-23T02:25:00.000-07:00

This is the picture I found in net which is very similar to what I made. They have garnished the pots with raspberries :)

Dark Chocolate Vodka Pots

2008-04-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

I made these chocolate pots for a potluck party recently. Initially I thought of baking cakes, but I realised that there were too many people and it would be difficult to pack so many cakes.

Cooking time : 30 - 45 minutes without refrigerating time
Serves 6

Ingredients
---------------
4 eggs
4 tbsp vodka/rum (optional. Substitute it with 4 tbsp strong coffee)
6 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp fresh cream
200 gm Dark chocolate
Milk Chocolate
Dark chocolate shavings

Method
----------
Separate the egg yolks and whites. Beat the yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat the whites until stiff peaks form.
Add the vodka and cream to the eg yolk and sugar mixture and beat well.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and add it the egg yolk mixture and beat well. Add the whites to this chocolate mixture in two parts and mix well.
Pour them into small serving cups and refrigerate overnight.
Melt a little white chocolate and pour it on a greased plate, when it starts solidifying, cut shapes.
Place these on the set chocolate pots.
Or spread the dark chocolate pieces on top.

Problem Areas
------------------------
I used milk chocolate when I did the trial, it took a very long time to set and melted very easily when not refrigerated. Dark chocolate works best.
Melting the dark chocolate was laborious, because it would harden before melting completely. So I boiled it in a double boiler with 2 tbsp of cream. This dint affect my final consistency.

Since I had to do it for a large number of people, had so much chocolate all around the place and it was just an amazing experience, cooking chocolate.
All the effort was so worth it. It looked so beautiful and filled the entire room with the amazing chocolate aroma. People loved it too.

I dont have any completed product's picture because we were in a real hurry next morning to reach the place but will post some intermediate pictures.