Chammanthi podi/Roasted spiced Coconut Powder

Once upon a time, I could not think of life without chammanthi podi/Roasted spice coconut powder. Amma used to make it in bulk, so that her dear daughter can eat with rice, dosa, idly or anything. When I left India for the first time, amma give me two packets, and told me one is Idly Milagai Podi /Spiced chili powder and other chammanthi podi, add Idly Milagai Podi to any vegetables you cook and Sautee with little oil. It will become a curry. Trust me I was doing that for long time. In beginning, I won’t cook that much so whatever I cook will be an easy one with few minutes in the kitchen. 

Nowadays I make Idly Milagai Podi more often, chammanthi podi very rarely. My hubby is not a big fan of this dish, I love it. I don’t need any curry to have a bowl of rice, this is enough. Yesterday on our regular grocery shopping I bought one coconut. It was fresh and suddenly I started thinking about mom, and decided to make chammanthi podi, Amma used to make chammanthi podi using 4-5 coconuts, she did all jobs associated with it, starting from breaking the coconut to grating, frying and grinding them. With my naughty little one, it was a difficult task to grate even a single coconut, she will put her fingers in the bowl, and she wants everything. 

Chammanthi podi is one of traditional accompaniments of Kerala cuisine. As usual every mom has their own recipes, and basically it consists of coconut, pepper corns, red chilies, coriander seeds, urad dal, tamarind and salt. Some time it may also contain ginger and shallots. As I have no shallots in hand, I added only ginger. However, I don’t have the recipe of chammanthi podi which amma used to make, hence I used Mrs. K.M. Mathew’s recipe which I got from an old issue of Vanitha (Malayalam magazine). I tweaked a little bit, the amount of coriander seeds and added 1 teaspoon of chana dal to it. It tasted really great, if you love coconut, you will like this dish too. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Red chilies :4 no (adjust according your spice level)

Coriander seeds: 1 teaspoon

Black pepper corns: 1/8 teaspoon

Curry leaves: 2 sprigs

Asafetida : ¼ teaspoon( a small piece )

Split black gram without skin: 2 tablespoon

Chana dal: 1 tablespoon

Ginger: 1 teaspoon

Tamarind: Ping pong ball( About1/2 tablespoon)

Salt: 1 teaspoon (to taste)

How I made

Heat a skillet and add urad dal and fry for 1 minute or until they become golden brown color. Set aside. Next fry channa dal, pepper corns, coriander seeds, Red chilies and asafetodia one by one until the raw smell goes and channa dal become golden brown color, pepper corns become plums up and starts crackling, red chilies get slight dark color in the skin and asafetodia become brittle. It will take about 6 minutes.

Next fry the coconut and curry leaves until they become golden brown color, mine got little more browned . It took about  about 8-10 minutes in medium flame. Set aside.

Once everything get cooled enough to touch or for about 20 minutes, grind them with ginger, tamarind, shallots (if using) and salt. Let it cool in tray. Adjust the salt, tamarind, and chilies if needed. After cooling for an hour or two store the chammanthi podi in an airtight container. Shelf life will be good if stored in refrigerator.

Preparation time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Serving: 5 serving
Verdict: Tasty

Will you make it again: Yes I will


I am sending this chammanthi podi to

Back to basics hosted by  Jaya  of Desi Soccer Mom



Swathi

sac böreği : Turkish Flat Bread with Spinach and Feta cheese with an Indian Touch

I am always amused by the similarities and uniqueness of world cuisines. While growing up I thought only dosa , idly and chapathi’s are real food, nothing else are there you can consume as tasty , nutritious dish. Once I got married, I got a same food enthusiastic hubby who is as adventurous as me to try new cuisine. That opened up my culinary explorations in my small kitchen. 

Last week I took a book from library, Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou. First when I took a look at the book; I was not impressed as it doesn’t contain any breathtaking color photographs. Then I thought if I only read only would I know what is in there. I have habit of reading the last chapters in any book, even I love to see climax of the movie first. However, my ardent movie loving hubby will say I will foil his interest of watching the movie and kills the curiosity. How can I change my habit, it is in my gene. So nowadays I watch the climax before he is home from work or even read reviews earlier. In a cook book how can you read the last chapters, you have to read everything. When I started reading the book later in the day I found some recipes that are quiet interesting, and I wanted to try them. At first my primary taste tester, was hesitant to try the recipes from that book, he told me if you not seen the photos of the dish, how do you know how it look like. I started searching with my Google friend; the pictures of sac böreği came up. So I decided to try. 

It is flat bread stuffed with spinach and feta cheese. These breads commonly called boreks are Anatolian specialty. One thing that strikes me is that in Turkish cuisine also certain dishes are popular in one part of the country but is unknown in the rest of the country. That is similar to Indian cuisine, every state has its own special cuisine different from other states. 

Sac böreği is similar to palak paratha, where palak or spinach is cooked and stuffed inside the whole wheat flour. I had some feta cheese in my hand, after making warm potato salad. To make Sac böreği sauteed spinach and cheese is filled in uncooked dough and then cooked in hot convex girdle. I used a nonstick-skillet along with frozen spinach that I had in hand. If you have fresh spinach, try using that. I used whole wheat flour along with some barely flour to make it a healthier version. I also added some gram masala, cumin, and chili powder, which are not in the original recipe. May be it is my Indian roots that is tempting me to add all these, when I ever make anything related to paratha. I read that this dish is usually served as breakfast along with honey. However I felt that we need some spicy curry to go with it. This may be because of our spicy gene again! 

This dish delicious, healthy, and filling and you can have any time a day. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Recipe adapted from Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou.

Whole wheat flour: 2 cup
Barely flour: ½ cup
Spinach: 2 ½ cup (I used frozen)
Cumin: ½ teaspoon
Gram masala: ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder: ½ teaspoon
Spring onion: 3 nos ( I used both white and green parts about ¼ cup)
Garlic clove: 1no
Feta cheese: ½ cup
Onion: ½ cup (I used red onion)
Water: 1 cup + 2 tablespoon
Salt: 1 ¼ teaspoon
Oil : 2 tablespoon
Chopped Parsley: 1 tablespoon






How I made

In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment add wheat flour, barely flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and oil and mix until everything combines well. To this add gradually add water to form a firm dough. Change to dough hook and knead the dough for another 5 minutes until you get soft dough similar to chapathi dough. 

Form the dough into a ball and coat with 1/2 tablespoons oil in a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough stand at warm room for 30 minutes.

In the mean time, heat oil in skillet and add cumin seeds and chopped onion and sauté until onion become translucent to this add garlic clove, chopped spinach and salt. Cook for another 6 minutes. 

To the spinach mixture add gram masala and chili powder and cook for another 1 minutes so the spices get combined to spinach mixture. Switch off the flame and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix feta cheese and chopped parsley and set aside.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and, keeping remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap. Roll out each piece into a round approximately 6 inches in diameter. Spread one tablespoon of spinach mixture on half the dough, to this sprinkle 1 teaspoon of feta cheese parsley mixture. Cover with other half. So that stuffing will be inside. Seal the edges with fingers. 

Heat a dry large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot, and then cook flatbread, turning once, until puffed and browned in spots, 45 seconds on each side. Transfer to a plate .Roll out and cook 12more flatbread, stacking them on plate. 

Enjoy warm with any spicy curry.

Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 12no
Verdict: Good
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending this delicious  sac böreği  to

12 days of Bloggie: mas: 12th day hosted by amoderatelife


Swathi

Pane in cassetta di Altamura/Semolina Bread/Semolina loaf

I was eyeing the semolina bread for a long time, wanting to make it. I was not courageous enough to try it like the making of honey wheat bread. I brought home almost all the known books on bread baking from the library to research this bread. After going through the books I realized that there are two types of Pane di Altamura/ semolina bread. One uses Biga or sourdough starter to make this bread and requires 3-4 days of preparation while the other one does not need sourdough. I am not confident to make sourdough starter at home, as it requires some more experience with bread baking. So I used the recipe which doesn’t need sourdough starter. 

The semolina bread is from Alta Murgia region in Apulia, Italy. It is traditionally made in very large loaves. It is very crisp and fragrant bread with a long shelf life and is used by peasants and shepherds for a week or more in isolated farms in the hill of Alta Murgia. If you are interested in knowing the history of this bread earliest written document describing the Altamura bread is in A.D 37 by Horatio's "Satires” you can read more from here .

After going through the recipes in Local breads by Daniel Leader and Bread A baker’s Book of Techniques and recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman, I settled with the recipe from the Bread a baker’s Book. I had to modify the baking temperature slightly as I was afraid of using the oven at 460 F for 35 to 40 minutes. It was unthinkable standing near that hot oven and cooking dinner on the stove top. Furthermore the electricity bill was going to give me shock. So I reduced oven temperature to 400 F but otherwise followed the recipe with a slight tweaking of yeast. Since I am trying this bread for the first time and want to try the original taste, I didn’t play with any whole wheat flour substitution. May be next time I will try that. 

To my surprise the bread was really tasty with golden colored crust and soft white inside. Just spread with some butter and jam or brush with olive oil and lightly toast, sure it is wonderful with any soup. Enjoy as you wish. Here is recipe.

What you need

Recipe adapted from Semolina bread by Jeffrey Hamelman

For Sponge:

Semolina/Semolina flour: ¾ cup
Bread flour/All purpose flour: ¾ cup
Water:3/4 cup
Yeast: ¾ teaspoon ( I used active dry yeast)
Sugar: ¼ teaspoon












Dough

Semolina /semolina flour: 1 + half of 1/8 cup
Bread flour: 1 + 1/8 cup
Water: ½ cup
Salt: ½ tablespoon
Extra virgin olive oil: 1 ½ tablespoon
Sponge: all the above
Sesame seeds: ½ tablespoon














How I made

In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment mix semolina, bread flour, sugar, yeast and water on first speed until evenly incorporated. It will be fairly loose batter. Transfer the contents to another bowl and set aside for ripening of the sponge. If you are using an instant thermometer, sponge should read a temperature of 78 -80 F. It took about 1 hour 35 minutes, or when it is on the verge of collapse.

In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment mix the ingredients for the dough including the sponge for 3 minutes. Then change to dough hook and knead the dough for about 6 minutes or leaves the sides of the bowl and form a ball. Transfer the contents to lightly floured area and knead for about 3-4 minutes or dough will smooth out and become slightly shiny. The dough should pass the window pane test and register 77 to 81 F. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Let ferment dough at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

Remove the dough and press it by hand to release the gases and press it into a rectangle about ¾ inch thick, 6 inches wide, and 8 to 10 inches long. Form it into a loaf by folding the sides. Place the loaf into a lightly oiled 9 by 5 inch loaf pan. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle on the sesame seeds. Mist again, this time with spray oil, and loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap or a towel.

Proof the dough second time for 1 hour or until the dough nearly doubles in size. If you are using loaf pan, the dough should crest fully above the lip of the pan, doming about 1 inch above the pan at the center. By the end of the second proofing preheat the oven to 400 F. Keep an empty broiler pan in the lower rack of oven. Add boiling hot water into the broiler pan when you are ready to bake the bread. (This will create steam, necessary to make the thick crust)

Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the center become golden brown, and make a hollow sound when thumped in the bottom. If using instant thermometer, when it is done bread should register 185-190 F. Rotate the loaf pan at 180 degrees in between around 20 minutes of baking.

When the loaf is finished baking, remove them immediately from the pans and cool on rack for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing and serving.

Preparation time: Sponge: 1 hour 35 minutes
Ferment: 2 hours
Proof: 1 hour
Baking: 35 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending this delicious bread to



Bread baking day 32 Italian breads hosted by ap269 of Family & Food & Other Things   originally started by Zorra.

Yeast spotting event  hosted by Susan

Swathi

Baked Sabudana Vada/Baked Sago Fritters

I got introduced to sabudana upma and vada by my mother-in-law, when I visited her lasted time. She is expert in whatever she cooks. If you tell her, you want a certain dish in the morning; if possible it will be available to you by the same evening or next morning. I don’t know how she cooks so fast, with all easy cooking amenities available it takes a long time for me to complete one dish. 

After having my baby I have put on weight, I wish I could be zero size as models and actresses. That is only dream, as I was not able to do much exercise too, and my little one loves to sleep in my lap than in the crib. May be I am responsible for that behavior too. 

In order to try to develop healthy food habits, I am trying to bake as many dishes as possible; occasionally I make fried goods too. What you can do they are yummy, my mind will say the deep fired are junk, however imaginary taste buds will say, do it only once you are not doing every time. After conflict, taste wins some time. When I decided to make sabudana vada this time, I decided I am not going to fry it. So I searched for baked sabudana vada with my Google friend and Smitha's blog came up.I tried the recipe with add on extras (means ingredients, I need to use them as they are in refrigerator waiting to be used up) these baked goodies came out tasty. It is addictive one; I don’t how many I consumed at a stretch. 

If you are a fan of Sabudana Vada, try this watching a serious movie, serial or with evening tea you will become diehard fan of this version of sabudana vada and you not going to make deep fried ones any more.

Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Sabudana/Sago/Tapioca pearls: 2 cup
Potato: 2 no (cooked and mashed about 11/2 cup)
Onion: ½ cup
Spring onion: 2 tablespoon (about 3 no)
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Coriander leaves; 2 tablespoon (finely chopped)
Ginger: 1 inch (chopped finely)
Chili powder: ½ teaspoon
Green chili: 2 no ( I used Thai hot chili)
Salt: 1 ¼ teaspoon
Garam masala: ½ teaspoon
Peanuts: ½ cup (Roasted and crushed)
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
Olive oil: 2 tablespoon





How I made

Soak sabudana for 3 hours, you can soak for 6 hours. After soaking drain them in a colander and set aside.

Cook the potato until they are done, Peel the skin and mash and set aside. Crush the peanuts using a food processor, grinder and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a bowl combine all the ingredients including sago, mashed potato, curry leaves, coriander leaves, green chili, ginger, salt, gram masala, chili powder, cumin seeds and crushed peanuts to form dough. You will be able to make balls with that dough. 

In baking sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil, brush with olive oil and set aside. Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough and with hands form into a small patties or circular disc (mixture will be wet) and place on a well greased baking sheet leaving 2 inch space between each other. 

Brush the top of patties with olive oil so that it gets oil in both sides. Bake for 45 minutes or until they become golden brown, flipping in between every 15 minutes. Enjoy warm. If you have any leftover reheat them in microwave for 15 seconds at high Heat.

Preparation time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Yield: 24 no
Verdict: Tasty, addictive
Will you make it again: Yes I will keeper recipe.

I am sending this Sabudana  Vada to

Cooking with Seeds: Sago hosted by Niloufer of  Kitchen Samraj originally started  by Priya.



Swathi

Nenthrapazham Halwa/ Plantain Fudge

My hubby loves halwa; he is fan of Maida halwa that we get in Kerala bakeries and train stations especially at Palaghat and Kozhikode. During one of our trip to Indian store that carries stuff from Kerala, he saw a packet of halwa. With immense expectations we bought that halwa. When we had a bite later in the day, we realized that they are not halwa; it looks like halwa but supposed to be used as foot ball or soccer ball, rubbery, hard I don’t know how to put on words. It was like that. Finally it got a nice place in our garbage bin.

Then he asked whether I can make it in home, I tried two times. Once it was two day project first day it didn’t set well and next day again after half hour of reheating it become somewhat eatable. For a portion that would be available for 3 dollars, I spent 2 hours of my time and pain in my hands due to stirring continually to prevent from sticking to the pan, with additional cost of ingredients and cooking for a long time. I have no gas stove, so I got high electricity bill. Finally he told me not to try it. 

Halwa /Halva are sweet dessert made from flours like all purpose, wheat and with rice, some time with fruits and vegetables read more from here . It is famous dessert in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Greece, Croatia, Egypt, Bosnia, Somalia and Middle Eastern countries. However, each has their own variations and taste. 

In Kozhikode/Calicut, northern Kerala state is famous for its halwa. There even a street named as SM Street is the abbreviated form of Sweet Meat Street (mittayi theruvu in Malayalam). It got its name from its sweet meat shops. Red, orange, green, black whatever color you want you can get it. We call it Kozhikodan halwa (Means halwa form Kozhikode), it is famous, tasty, and sure it requires lot of work. Usually made with flour, sugar and oil and stirring continuously. Here you can see how they are making halwa in this video. 

After tried and failed making episode of Maida halwa, I was sitting quite for some time. Last week I saw an episode of cookery show on You Tube by Lakshmi Nair . She cooks really well. I have tried her recipes earlier and it had come out good. In that episode she is making banana halwa. Suddenly my halwa making desire rekindled with full swing. I asked my primary taste tester and photographer hubby can I make it. He told why you want to make it?

I told him two overripe plantains is sitting in kitchen table, yesterday I made plantain fritters’ I can’t make that any more. And it is not good for boiled plantain also. Finally I have seen an episode of halwa making in You Tube. 

Okay do it. I got the answer. Then I started making plantain halwa. I modified the recipe slightly (I think I can’t make anything as such, need some changes) by reducing the amount of ghee and sugar used. Added only 1 ½ tablespoon of sugar and 1 ½ tablespoon of ghee used 2 overly ripe plantains (They look very black, don’t worry only skin is not pretty fruit inside is really sweet good for these type of dishes). Final product is golden yellow color with an incredibly taste. This dish was first approved my little one then by her dad. It was consumed immediately by my taste testers and me. Try sometime; this is guilt free dessert. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Recipe adapted from Magic oven 

Over ripe Plantains: 2 no ( Chopped finely, makes about 1 packed cup)
Sugar; 1 ½ tablespoon
Ghee/clarified butter: 1 ½ tablespoon+ 1 teaspoon for frying Cashews
Cardamom: 2 no (crushed and powdered)
Water: 1/5 cup
Cashews: 5 no (halved into two pieces)








How I made

Peel the skin of plantains and cut in the middle, remove the black seeds and chopped into fine pieces. Set aside.

Grease the sides and bottom of a pan with butter and set aside. 

Heat a small skillet and add 1 teaspoon of ghee and fry the cashews to golden brown and set aside.

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add water and sugar let it boils. When it starts boiling to this add chopped plantain pieces and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

When the mixtures becomes thick starts adding Ghee 1 teaspoon at a time and stir continuously to prevent from sticking to bottom.

Once you finished the addition of ghee, it will take about 19 minutes and halwa starts thickens and it will become ball and start leaving the sides of pan. Add crushed cardamom and mix and stir for another 1 minutes and switch off the flame.

Transfer the Halwa to buttered pan and smoothen the top with wooden spatula. Arrange cashews in the top. Keep aside for cooling. After 20 minutes with buttered knife make desire shapes and enjoy. 

Preparation time: 50 minutes ( 30 minutes for cooking and 20-30 minutes to set)
Yield: 2 serving
Verdict: Incredibly tasty
Will you make it again. Yes I will keeper recipe.

I am sending this delicious Nenthrapazham Halwa to

Celebrate sweets : Halwa event hosted by Nivedita of Nivedita's Kitchen

Monthly Mingle : Party treats    hosted by Sarasaswathy of Sara's Corner  originally started by Meeta.

Health Nut Challenge 7: Tropical temptations hosted by Yasmeen of Health Nut.



Swathi

Omakka Thoran/ KapplangaThoran/ Papaya Thoran/ Papaya Stir Fry

Omakka/kapplanga/Papaya  is one of the plants you can see in the backyard of every house in my home state Kerala. I don’t know if anybody takes care of them. Once it is planted that’s all, it will grow and gives fruit. Only problem elder’s says that you have to choose the papaya plant which is a hermaphrodite to get fruit. Because a papaya plant produce male flowers, female flowers or hermaphrodite. If it is a female flower producing plant, then it need a male flower plant to get pollinated. 

We eat both raw and ripe papaya, if it is raw we like to cook them and if ripe eat as is. However, you can see in Thai cuisine they use raw papaya to make salad. When we (me and my sister) were young we used to make garland with cut stems of papaya plant. They are usually hollow, so you can tie with a string and easy to make garland with them. Whoever wins some game, he or she will be awarded with this papaya stem garlands. That was some childhood fun. 

Papaya contain s vitamin C , vitamin E and vitamin A (through their concentration of pro-vitamin A carotenoid phytonutrients), and the three together form a powerful antioxidant combination which helps in prevention of atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease. Papaya also helps to prevent colon cancer. It also contains unique protein-digesting enzymes including papain and chymopapain. These enzymes have been shown to help lower inflammation and to improve healing from burns. However they are also known to cause abortion. It helps in immune health as well as lung health read more about them from here and here  .

Amma used to make thoran with them when they are raw. She usually would cut them into very thin pieces as she has no vegetable grater at that time. During the last grocery shopping I saw a raw papaya in the Indian store that was a half piece. So I picked it immediately and put in shopping cart. Usually I won’t buy them if they are whole and big. Because consuming a single papaya is not possible in my household. I used amma recipe for making the dish and used a vegetable grater to grate them. A grater helps to make every piece uniform and gives a nice taste and texture. Here is the recipe

What you need

 Omakka/ Papaya grated: 4 cup
Onion: ½ cup ( I used red onion, use shallots if you have)
Mustard seeds: ¾ teaspoon
Urad dal: 1 tablespoon
Salt: 2 teaspoon or to taste
Oil: 2 tablespoon ( I used olive oil)
Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin seed powder; ½ teaspoon
Chilli powder: ½ teaspoon
Green chili: 1 no ( I used Serrano pepper)
Coconut: ½ cup ( I used desiccated coconut)
Red chilies: 2 no ( Halved into 2 pieces)
Curry leaves: 1 sprig








How I made

In a skillet heat oil and add mustard seeds, red chilies and curry leaves. Once mustard starts popping add onion and fry for 3 minutes.

To this add grated papaya, turmeric and 1 teaspoon of salt and close the skillet with lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes in slow flame. Stir in between to prevent from sticking to the bottom.

Add coconut, cumin and red chili powder and remaining salt mix everything well. Cook for another 3 minutes to get the flavors infused into the papaya. Switch off the flame .

Enjoy with hot rice and curry.

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: yes I will

This Tasty papaya thoran is going to 

Side dish show down : July;  hosted by Reeni of Cinnamon and Spice.

Swathi

Chanteduc Cherry Cake

I love cherries, so does my little one. She likes to take small bites of cherries. Usually they are expensive, still I buy them whenever I can, and maybe it is because I am addicted to cherries. My hubby likes to eat cherries fresh, but I love to make dishes with them, especially cherry cake. Cherry cake is delicious that is word I can say. I love the soft spongy cake with browned crust and beautiful Polka design with cherries on the top of the cake. When I was a small girl I liked polka designs especially black and white and red and white, I had some dresses in that design. I loved to wear them every time and Amma would ask why you are wearing same dress every day. I would tell her I like these designs very much. In old Hindi movies, sari usually had a polka design.

Cherries have lots of health benefits. Tart cherries contain high level antioxidants and are rich in fiber compared to most other fruits. Cherries also contain melatonin and thus promote good sleep patterns, and prevent aging and memory loss. Cherries also are found to help in overall weight loss, reduce arthritis etc read more from here .

I know all these health benefits will reduce if you bake them as cake. What I can do, when I saw recipe for cheery cake in this book, The Provence cookbook by Patricia Wells, I was bowled over. So I ignored health benefits of eating fresh cherries and made this cake, which turned out to be delicious. I changed the original recipe by reducing the amount of butter, added ½ cup of wheat flour, and cinnamon. I wanted the cherries to be distributed evenly in my cake, however it didn’t happen. It got concentrated in some places; still I got a nice cake. Here comes the recipe.

What you need
Recipe adapted from  The Provence cookbook by Patricia Wells

Cherries: 4 cups (About 40 cherries)
All purpose flour: 1 cup (I used unbleached king Arthur All purpose flour)
Whole wheat flour: ½ cup (I used King Arthur premium whole wheat flour)
Baking powder: 1 teaspoon (I used Aluminum free)
Baking soda: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Eggs: 2 no
Sugar: ¾ cup
Butter: 3 tablespoons (melted and cooled)
Canola oil: ¼ cup
Milk: 1/3 cup
Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon
Lemon zest: 1 teaspoon




How I made

Pre heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit and lightly oil and line the bottom with parchment paper on a 9 inch cake pan and set aside.

Wash and dry the cherries using a paper towel, remove the stems and seeds and cut into half. Set aside cut 15 cherries (to be placed on the top of the cake during baking). Remaining cherries cut again into two pieces resulting 4 pieces from each cherry and set aside.

In a large bowl sift, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and set aside.

In the bowl of Kitchen aid stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and lemon colored for about 3 minutes. To this add the melted cooled butter, milk, Vanilla and lemon zest and beat until just incorporated. Add the flour mixture and stir until everything gets incorporated. Gently fold in pitted and cut cherries (but not the 15 cherries that have halved for the top of the cake). Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Bake for 17 minutes then remove from oven. Quickly arrange the remaining cherries, cut side down, on the top of the cake.

Return the cake to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy.

 Preparation time: 1 hour
Yield; 10 servings
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will


Swathi

Pavakkai pitla/Bitter Gourd in Tamarind Coconut Gravy.

Pavakkai pitla is one of the curries my father loves a lot. Grandma used to make it often whenever she got some pavakkai or bitter gourd. This is a part of traditional Tamil Brahmin cuisine. While growing up I hated bitter gourd, as it name suggests they are bitter to taste. As a grown up however I became a fan of bitter gourd, when I ever see them in the market, I will buy them. There are two varieties of bitter gourd, one is Indian one and other is Chinese one. I don’t like the Chinese one. I love the Indian one. You can make chips, juice or a tasty curry with them. Read more about Bitter gourd/ from here. 

Pavakka/ Bitter gourd has immense health benefits; it help to cure toxemia, it contain a hypoglycemic compound which helpful in lowering sugar levels in blood and urine in diabetes mellitus. Due to its high beta carotene content it helps in improving eyesight and eye problems etc read more from here.

My hubby loves bitter gourd chips when it is baked with chili powder and salt. Grandma was one of the great cook I have seen in my life. Even if she made just a curry with raw onion and red chili and salt with little bit coconut oil, it tasted great and you could eat a bowl full of rice with that or even a dozen dosa( pancake) . Appa always used to tell my mom that you have to learn cooking from my mother, poor mom she tried to cooks grandma’s recipes, and even though it was good she got complaints that it was not as great as grandma’s. Grandma makes even bitter gourd a delectable dish. However I was not able to learn from her, but I learnt this recipe from Raji Akka when I visited India last time. She is a good cook and taught me this curry by cooking it for me. It contains toor dal, tamarind and bit of jaggery for slight sweetness. Here is  the recipe.

What you need

 Bitter gourd/Pavakka: 3 no (Washed, seeded, chopped into cubes)
Toor dal : 1/3 cup
Tamarind: small ping pong ball sized
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
Oil: 1 ½ tablespoon
  
For seasoning
Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Asafetoida: ¼ teaspoon
Oil : 2 teaspoon
Curry leaves: 1 sprig( about 10 no)

For roasting and grinding
Oil : 1 teaspoon
Grated coconut: 4 tablespoon
Red chili : 3 no
Pepper cons: ¼ teaspoon
Chana dal: 2 teaspoon
Urad dal: 1 teaspoon
Coriander: 2 teaspoon
Rice: ¼ teaspoon






How I made

Soak the toor dal for 30 minutes. Wash and pressure cook the dal with 1 ½ cup water for 3 visiles. Set aside.

In sauce pan heat 1 ½ tablespoon of oil and fry the pavakka or bitter gourd pieces for 5 minutes.To this add ½ cup of water , salt and turmeric. Let it cook for another 10 minutes.

In the mean time in a small skillet heat one teaspoon of oil and roast chana dal, coriander seeds, urad dal, pepper corns , Red chili until raw smell is removed and nice aroma is released this takes about 2 minutes and set aside. I prefer to roast them one by one. In the same pan add coconut and fry until they turn slight brown in color. Keep aside. Once everything is cooled grind everything into a coarse fine paste. And set aside.

Heat tamarind with ½ of cup of water in microwave at high for 15 seconds and extract juice and set aside.

Once the bitter gourd pieces are cooked then add tamarind juice and jaggery bring it to a boil. To this add ground paste and mashed cooked toor dal and again boil for 2 minutes or until spices are distributed uniformly.

In mean time heat a small skillet and add oil and mustard, asafetodia, curry leaves and when mustard seeds start spluttering remove from the heat and add it to bitter gourd curry.

Enjoy with  hot rice.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

 Swathi

Churros con chocolate / Churros and Chocolate Sauce

Spain became World Cup 2010 soccer champions with single goal against Netherlands. Spain will remain as world champions until next soccer cup in 2014 in Brazil. Initially I was not a fan of Spain, my favorite team was Argentina, and however, they had a pathetic defeat against Germany. Then I started noticing the games of Spain, they are the team with less mistakes and very low fouls, however in the final match, both teams where fouling each other. My hubby told me that Netherlands was going to win, I told no, Spain is .May be I am with Paul the psychic octopus who predicted the Spanish win. In order to celebrate the win I made churros.

Churros are the Spanish street sweet pastry usually consumed with thick chocolate sauce or pudding. I am a fan of street food, I feel every country has their signature street food or snacks. Next in line was to search for recipes to make them at home. I have seen one recipe by Minimalist Mark Bittman . I like his recipe’s as usually they are fail proof. Then there are recipes for this dish at some Spanish food blogs also. I found that in authentic Spanish churros, eggs and cinnamon are not added. In order to make this dish they use a special device similar to our murrku acchu for making churros. So I used my murruku acchu. I know pressing murruku with murruku acchu means you need to be a body builder; otherwise it is a tedious job. I asked my hubby to do one time pressing of churros into the oil; he did it for me and told me how hard it is. I added one egg into my churros recipe instead of adding 3 eggs for 1 cup flour mentioned by Mark Bittman . I also dusted some churros with confectioner’s sugar. In addition I also made a chocolate sauce to go with it. I made the chocolate sauce similar to french spiced chocolate Xocopili. I used 90 % dark coca chocolate with chili powder, cumin powder, cloves, powdered sugar and milk. 

Churros came really good, even though mine was not able to get the fluted shape and it tastes really good. You can have even just like that without any sauce. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

For Churros

Bread flour/All purpose flour: 1 cup
Unsalted butter: 3 tablespoon
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
Confectioner sugar: 2 tablespoons
Egg: 1no
Salt : 1/8 teaspoon
Water: 1 cup
Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon (optional)
Water: 1 cup
Canola oil: 4 cup (for frying)



For chocolate sauce

 Lindt dark Chocolate (90% cocoa): 4 pieces
Milk: ¼ cup
Powdered sugar: 1 tablespoon
Chili powder: 1/8 teaspoon
Cumin powder: 1/8 teaspoon
Cloves: 2 no
Cornstarch: ¼ teaspoon






How I made 

Churros

Add 4 cup oil in a deep skillet or sauce pan to come to a depth of at 2 inches and heat to about 350 degree Fahrenheit.

In a sauce pan combine 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoon butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, and add flour, all at once. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, and beat eggs and to mixture, stirring until it become smooth and incorporated well.

Spoon the dough into a murruku acchu or into a pastry bag with a large star tip (or simply drop spoons full of batter into oil). Press strips of dough about 4 inches long into hot oil. Cook as many as will fit comfortably at once, turning as they brown it took about 8 minute.

Remove churros from oil, and drain on paper towels, then immediately roll them in cinnamon-sugar mixture/ dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Serve hot or warm. Enjoy with chocolate sauce. 

Chocolate sauce

In a microwave safe bowl add chocolate pieces and 1/8 cup milk , chili powder, cumin powder, cloves and 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar and heat it for 15 seconds at high.

Mix everything and heat for another 15 seconds so that chocolate melts and all the spices get incorporated.

In a small cup add rest of milk and corn starch and mix well and set aside.

Once the chocolate is melted add cornstarch milk mixture to it and heat for another 15 seconds. 

Enjoy with churros.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Yield 1 dozen 4- to 6-inch churros
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make again: Yes I will

Swathi

Vegetarian Paella

Celebration of Spanish soccer team’s victory over Germany in 2010 World cup soccer semi-finals with vegetarian paella. Spain will play for the World Cup title for the very first time against Netherlands. My hubby is a crazy soccer fan, he is going to watch the final I will also give him company. Yesterday I made Paella while watching the game. Traditionally paella consists of seafood or meat, and originated in Valencia on the east coast of Spain in mid 19th century you can read more from here.

When I was discussing with hubby about making Paella, he told me okay, try it if it is good we will eat it otherwise it will go to garbage bin. I told him I don’t think it is going to be anything not good. It is rice dish with lot of vegetables. I made a vegetable version of Paella. I read that you need to cook Paella in special “Paella pan” and should not be using anything non-stick. I don’t have it so I used one of my wok. Authentic paella requires Bomba or calasparra rice. I checked in Spanish store, they are white rice, however due to diabetics in our family, I prefer to cook brown rice or parboiled rice rather than white rice. So I used long grain parboiled rice. I don’t have Spanish bitter sweet paprika (Pimentón de la Vera) so used my own chili powder and pepper powder. I have used whatever vegetables available in my hand. It came out really good, tasty however it is not very spicy. I don’t know the authentic taste of paella, but found it tasty? Even my little one found it tasty and kept asking for more. If I get a chance to go to Spain, I will try the authentic paella. This recipe is adapted from here.

What you need

 Onions: ( chopped)
Carrots: ½ cup
Red bell pepper: 1cup ( Seeded, chopped )
Green Bell pepper : 1 cup ( seeded, chopped)
Yard beans: ½ cup ( chopped)
Frozen green peas: 1/3 cup
Green onion: 3 nos
Snow peas : 25 nos
Tomato: 3 no( Peeled, seeded and chopped )
Garlic: 2 cloves (minced)
Cumin powder: ½ teaspoon ( Not in authentic version)
Chili powder: ½ teaspoon ( Use Spanish bitter sweet paprika (Pimentón de la Vera) for authentic taste)
Pepper powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt : 2 teaspoon
Rice: 1 ½ cup ( I used Par boiled rice, use Bomba or Calaspara rice for authentic)
Water: 5 cups( use vegetable stock if you have)
Olive oil : 2 tablespoon
Saffron: 10 strands
Parsely: 2 tablespoon

How I made

In a wok, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. 

Add onion, bell peppers and carrot reduce heat to medium low and cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the onion is translucent.

Then add garlic, green onion, peas, snow peas and yard beans, saffron and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes more. To this add cumin powder, chili powder and salt and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the rice and 3 cup water (use warmed stock if using) and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and simmer for 40  minutes, until most of the stock is absorbed. Add remaining water and cook the rice until done .

While rice is cooking preheat oven to 350 degree Farenheit.

Cover with foil, put in 350  degree  F oven for 18 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.

To serve, decorate with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.  I used only parsley.

Enjoy:  Buen appetio

Preparation time:  1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: Yes  I will


 I am sending this Vegetarian Paella to AWED Spain guest hosed by Priya  originally started by DK.

Swathi