Festive cookies and let the sweetness flow in you

Food is always part of festivals. Or let’s put it that way food goes hand in hand with festivals. With December fast approaching the moods are often elevated with the holiday shopping and the mistletoe and the Christmas wreaths and the warm glow of fluorescent bulbs in the shopping centers even though the weather outside is harsh and crisp. Perhaps the contrast is what is most alluring. The rhymes of jingle bells on snow frosted streets and the noble Santa preparing for the kids, the whole atmosphere is almost magical. Shopping and booking tickets for holidays takes top priority. Almost all of us are set in a mood for partying. Window shopping is great as the shops are dressed up at their best. Xmas tree are beautifully jeweled up with latest glitters and hangings. Kids are eagerly waiting for holidays to come and some promising vacations are awaiting. It is always exciting as the New Year approaches with plenty of get together on cards.

I have spent few Christmas seasons in Sydney soaking up in the bright summer sunshine. Being nestled in the southern hemisphere it is extremely warm to hot and an ideal time for picnics in the park with the Barbie roaring and the boys with their stubbies discussing footy. There are so much of outdoor activities with every possible inch filled up at the beaches and the parks. The parks are completely filled up unless you decide to go early and reserve a spot for yourself and your friends. That happens most of the time when few families decide to meet up and couple of them are requested to reach early to spot a nice place early with their esky’s overflowing. It is completely different scene when compared to rest of world during the month of December.

Flipping through a few pictures of the bygone days I happened to recollect that I had baked gingerbread cookies for a get together and as usual they were always a hit with the kids. Seeing those pictures Rohan was excited and wanted me to bake some more of those now. Luckily I had scribbled that recipe and it is indeed a pleasure to know that Susan of Foodblogga is hosting a theme Eat Christmas cookies-2 so I was all set and keen to roll them up.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons of honey
60 grams butter
250 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
60 grams brown sugar
30 grams cocoa powder
2 teaspoon dry ginger powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 egg yolk

Method

Put honey, sugar and butter in pan and simmer till the butter is melted. Keep stirring fast and take off from the heat occasionally. Sieve the flour, baking powder, ginger and mixed spice. Pour the above the mix and using the egg yolk roll a smooth dough. Refrigerate for 10 minutes and roll them on a flat sheet depending on the thickness you would require. Using a cookie cutter cut the desired shapes.
Bake them for 8 to 10 minutes at 180’C.

For the lighter and egg less ones I have used the following ingredients with the similar method adapted from 101 one things to make and do

Ingredients (egg less)

2 tablespoon butter
½ cup light brown sugar
4 tablespoon honey
1 cup plain flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
½ tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ginger powder
Pinch of salt

The fun part was playing with sugar. Although it was bit of mess but I thoroughly enjoyed decorating these cookies.

I used 3 tablespoons of icing sugar with few drops of milk, and a drop of lemon juice. Blend them properly adding colour of choice. Spoon them in the piping bags and snip the tip off checking the thickness you would desire. Carefully layout the cookies and it is just a gradual practice. Keep some toothpicks and paper towel handy to wipe up if something doesn’t work up as well as you planned on it to be.

Let the one color completely dry up before using other colors. Decorate it with Smarties.
My husband is insistent on marketing his company’s products even if we can’t find any. I have used M&M’s though much to his distaste.

I hope & pray the festive season brings cheers and good tidings to everyone and I hope we can all collectively forget the erratic slides of the DJIA index and pray for everyone’s happiness and peace.

Shahi vegetable pulao

Last weekend we were busy as there were couple of things lined up at home and I had no intention of having lunch outside with the last few indulgences. So I decided to have something healthy and filling, Nutritious yet delicious and what best but a medley of all veggies chopped & thrown into the pot for a quick lunch that could be satisfying and filling too. I cooked a pulao shared to me by my mother in-law with a tiny variation from the regular recipe of using coconut and poppy seed paste. I like the rich taste imparted by the paste though.

One who is acquainted with this space of mine would immediately recognize that I use poppy seeds (khus khus) quite often and this is specialty of eastern Indian cuisine. Poppy seeds are mild but have a rich and nutty texture when added to gravies.

Pulao are always handy when it comes to having a quick brunch. It can be made with left over rice and some frozen veggies thrown in adjusting spices and condiments to suit one’s taste. It was part of my regular cooking when I was working and had no time to whip up an elaborate meal.

Coming to my recipe all you need is

1 cup Basmati rice uncooked
2 cups vegetable chopped (cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas)
1 small onion chopped
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
whole Garam masalas ( 2 cardamom, 3 cloves, and 1inch cinnamon)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder

For the paste

2 teaspoon poppy seeds
3 to 4 teaspoon fresh coconut
2 fresh green chilies
1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves chopped
2 tablespoon fresh mint leaves chopped

1 tablespoon ghee/oil
Salt to taste

Cook rice and it should not be sticky. Make a paste of the ingredients and keep it aside. In a pan heat ghee, add whole garam masalas, bay leaf. Sauté chopped onions till translucent. Add ginger and garlic paste. Add and sauté the chopped vegetables. Cover and cook till partially done. Add the paste, cumin and coriander powder. Cook on a medium fire till the vegetables are done. Sprinkle water if the paste sticks to the pan. Add salt to taste.

Finally add cooked rice and mix well. Cover and simmer on low fire for 5 minutes. Serve hot with papad and pickle.

Kitchen notes - When grinding poppy seeds, dry (not roasted) grind them first and then add rest of the ingredients and little water to make a paste.

More recipes with poppy seeds

Prawns curry

Spicy chicken korma

Sending this recipe to Rice mela hosted by Srivalli of http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

Cornmeal and herb bread for a worthy cause

The glorious beauty of fall will vanish soon with the weather turning crisp & cold. It is freezing here and old weary leaves are falling down and within few days to come the roads will be lined up with empty stalks and barren branches. It was great that we managed to escape to the mountains last week but given the present day weather condition, it would have been too harsh for the little Rohan to go to Mount Laoshan.

Last week Aparna of MyDiversekitchen tagged me for a worthy cause a cause that is raised for alleviating poverty in Africa, a very thoughtful cause and is open to every one. Anyone can participate and there are quite a number of ways one can contribute.

There are various ways for you to get involved:
Join our campaign.
Submit your bread baking recipe.
Make a donation to Breadline Africa.
Vote for your favourite recipe.
Bake a loaf of bread and blog about it.
Bake many loaves of bread and host a bake sale.


Checkout out this to find out more on The world wide blogger bake off challenge.

On this noble occasion I thought of baking a herb cornmeal bread that often dotes my kitchen top. Seeing Deeba’s Moroccan holiday bread, I went on adding 1 tablespoon of instant yeast instead of regular 1 teaspoon and it did a make difference to my regular cornmeal bread. It was soft and here goes the list of ingredients to make a nice loaf and that too for a worthy cause.

Ingredients

1 cup bread flour
½ cup cornmeal
1teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon sugar
3 teaspoon mixed dried herbs (rosemary, parsley and basil)
2 teaspoon olive oil
½ cup plus two tablespoons lukewarm milk (110”F warm)
1tablespoon instant dry yeast
Few tablespoons of corn kernel
1 heaped teaspoon of sesame seeds

Method

In a bowl mix all the ingredients expect corn kernel and sesame. Knead to smooth and soft dough for about 7 to 8 minutes. Kneading is an important step and I am glad that my kitchen aid with a kneading attachment does a good work.

Lightly grease a bowl and rest the dough for one hour or until it has doubled. I had kept the dough near kitchen window that is blessed with ample of sunshine. Knuckle it down and add some corn kernels and give it an oblong shape. Wrap and rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 200’C and brush the top with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. It should pass the simple test of sounding hollow when tapped underneath. Serve warm.

I prayed silently as I dunked and enjoyed it with roasted red pepper soup.



I have tagged the following bloggers to join in the campaign, please do feel free to join the campaign and if for any reason you can’t let us pray in our special way that the world is a little less cruel on the underprivileged. Like someone said “poverty is the biggest crime against humanity”.

Sowmya -http://creativesaga.blogspot.com/
Soma -http://www.ecurry.com/blog/
Yasmeen -http://yasmeen-healthnut.blogspot.com/
Jo -http://sugareverythingnice.blogspot.com/
Daziano - http://italialicious.blogspot.com/

I am also sending this recipe to Lore of culinarty.sapiensworks for hosting the Original Recipes - Monthly Round-Up Event.

Upside - down chocolate caramel nut cake

Weekends are great time to unwind from the weekly grind. A moment to enjoy with the family a moment to laze around watching reruns of favorite movie snacking a bit of indulgence and catching up with friends and even as the clock ticks ahead pushing the supermarket trolley loaded with groceries. The fun part is doing it together. Last weekend we had assuming that the temperature would dip down to below freezing and so were planning to restrict ourselves indoors or visit the mall for a coffee. But seeing the vibrant rays of sun and comfortable temperature we decided to take a trip to the foothills of the mountain that is quite close to our place.

It was gorgeous with vibrant colors of the fall and overlooking the spectacular ocean. We had taken a small picnic basket and it was fun to see Rohan running around. It was fun and on our way we picked up some fresh fruits from the farmers selling straight from their orchards.

Since my hubby’s job demands a lot of traveling so at times I look forward to Fridays evenings as a time when all of us sit down together to have a nice dinner. So at times I feel like indulging with a nice spread. I had this chocolate cake made for his sweet carving. Since Rohan is not so keen on snacking on nuts I had to smother it with chocolate ganache. One more reason to celebrate was Aparna of My Diverse kitchen very well known for her exotic bread collections is hosting her blog birthday celebration event. So here Aparna I saved you a slice. I hope you will enjoy it.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted waltnuts
2 tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted pistachios
2 tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted almonds
½ cup butter
1 ¼ cup plain flour
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 free range eggs
¼ cocoa powder
100 grams dark eating chocolate melted
1/3 cup milk

Caramel topping
40 grams butter
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cream

Method
Prepare the caramel topping. Combine together butter sugar and cream in a small saucepan. Stir over a low fire with out boiling and until the sugar has been melted. Remove from fire and keep aside.

Line a 20 cm round cake tin with a butter paper. Pour the prepared the caramel sauce and sprinkle the chopped nuts evenly. Freeze it while preparing the cake mixture.

Shift the plain flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time beating until just combined. Stir in the shifted flours and chocolate and milk.

Spread the cake mixture over the caramel topping and bake it at 175’C for 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Remove and let it cool down before turning it upside down.

Garnish in it some more nuts and serve warm with chocolate sauce or dollop of ice-cream.

Kitchen Notes - The original recipe had called for macadamias, since I had none so I had to substitute with chopped pistachios. Also I have reduced the cocoa powder from 1/3 to 1/4 cup.

This recipe was bookmarked from The Australian women’s weekly best food collection and I am sending this to Ruth of justaddeggs hosting bookmarked event every Monday.

Last but not least I am also sending to NotquiteNigella hosting an event with an interesting theme The Ultimate chocolate cake challenge. She does have exciting gifts for the winners so if you haven’t thought of, now is the time to put on your Chef’s hat and send in your favorite chocolate cake.

Prawns cooked with poppy seed ( khus khus)

Just last night I saw the moon in its most glorious state bright as a diamond, dazzling and making its way through the dark ominous clouds as I stepped outside to dump my garbage bag and looked up and saw the vibrant full moon. It made me nostalgic as I remembered the beautiful stories of the moon that my grandma told me as I and my brother lay on her laps and looked up at the bright starry sky during the mid summer holidays of our school days. So much passes away and yet some things remain permanently etched in our memories.

I ran inside to get my camera & capture the moment before it got shrouded amongst the clouds like another story ending abruptly because we fell asleep on her lap before she could complete it. Although it was a clear sky with only few patches of cloud scattered and strangely around the moon as if it was a divine make over for the moon to shine & show itself in all its glory. I zoomed my lens and clicked away to preserve this beautiful moment. I later realized that it was purnima the full moon day & non other than Kartika Purnima. This day holds a very significant event in the Oriya calendar. The whole month of kartika that starts from middle of October and ends somewhere in the middle of November on the full moon day. During this period devotees refrain from eating non vegetarian food .After purnima we celebrate the next day with new clothes & feasting ourselves and preparing delicacy that includes fish, poultry and meat.

Staying in China and with a over fussy son we could not strictly follow the rituals but back in my home state our families always observe this particular period with true spirit. I remember when we were young we used to visit Puri the holy land of lord Jaganath on this day. The grandeur of the temple would get multiplied with the chanting of the auspicious mantras by the ardent devotees and is an absolutely mesmerizing moment. My dad used to wait till the sunset and watch the evening kirtans (prayers) that was spell bounding. My grandma would give us a few rupees each to spend on the sweet meats around the temple and very often we would end up eating ice lollies that seemed to have been the gifts from the god.

On this special day I am going share a recipe of prawn cooked with poppy seeds paste. It is one of delicacies of Eastern India. White poppy seeds paste has a mild flavor and imparts a creamy texture to the gravy.

Ingredients

20 Prawns shelled and de veined
1 large potato boiled and cubed
½ cup onion chopped
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 medium tomato chopped
2 teaspoon poppy seeds (khus khus)
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon Garam masala
1 tablespoon fresh cream
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon oil

Method

Heat I tablespoon oil in pan. Sauté the prawns for couple of minutes. Sprinkle salt and pinch of turmeric. Remove and keep it aside.

Use the same pan and add rest of the oil. Fry the onions till translucent and add garlic and ginger paste. Sauté the onions till they are cooked and then add chopped tomatoes and dry masalas excluding gram masala. Keep stirring it on a medium fire till the paste is cooked well and you can see the oil oozing out.

Blend the dry poppy seeds and then add 3 to 4 tablespoon of water to make a paste. Add the paste to the above masala and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Finally add prawns and potatoes. Keep stirring on medium fire and add ¾ cup of water. Cover and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes till the gravy is thickened. Garnish it with cream, garam masala and coriander and serve hot with rice.

Taking this opportunity may I also silently pray for all of us that we find lasting happiness & peace in what ever we do and where ever we are.

Simple pleasures of baking

Yaah I call it pleasure an immense pleasure when I find my baked goodies turned out well and loved & enjoyed by friends and family. Last week when Rohan’s school slipped a note in his dairy that parents teachers association would like to have a bake sale to raise money for the underprivileged kids. I was thrilled This was going to be a double victory, I could get to bake and some proceeds would go to the poor kids. I flipped through quite a lot of cooking books. There were so many mouthwatering recipes but the one that caught my attention was simple yet desirable for kid’s distinguished tastes. Kids these days are really spoilt for choice, back in my days we had one variety of cake and I had to either eat it or loose it to my brother. The ones that grabbed my attention were shaped like chocolate dominos. Kids love chocolate and there is no denying that chocolate frostings are one of their most sought-after goodies.

I was equally thrilled as much as my little one who was all excited that mum would be getting some surprise goodies for his friends too. I baked a simple chocolate cake and frosted it with a combination of chocolate ganache and store brought frosting.

When I reached his school, he saw a glimpse of me through the window and his excitement grew manifold. It was an open day where parents were permitted to enjoy watching their kid’s activities. Needless to say Rohan kept proudly announcing that “my mum made this” to all his equally excited bunch of friends loading themselves with sugar and chocolate. He got an extra piece for his word of mouth advertising. Bless him my little prince.

Recipe for Chocolate cake
1 1/ 2 cup plain flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method
Shift flour, baking powder, cocoa powder in bowl. Beat sugar and butter till light and fluffy. Add eggs and whisk well. Gradually add the flour and mix till incorporated.

Preheat the oven 180’C. Grease a baking pan of your choice and bake it for 25 minutes or till done.

Remove and let it cool down. (I made it in the night and kept it outside covered with a tea towel).

Frosting
Ganache
¾ cup cream
80 grams dark chocolate.

Stir the above in a sauce pan on low fire. Take care not to boil the cream. Keep stirring till the chocolate has melted and mixed well. Remove and cool it.

Refrigerate it.

I blended few tablespoon of chocolate ganache and few tablespoons of store brought frosting together. Gently Label it with a spatula of the slices and decorate it with Smarties.

I also made these Checker board cookies and the recipe can be found here.

The chocolate dominoes goes Madhavi of http://vegetarianmedley.blogspot.com/ hosting Children's day event.

Spicy fish kebabs

Last weekend we woke up to a glorious day, perfect blue skies after a week of overcast grey. It was great to soak in the bright sun rays and taking a stroll on the marine drive. The city skyline looked absolutely fabulous. Casually strolling we headed to a cosy Japanese restaurant and the hot bowl of noodle soup was so soothing and warm. The temperature suddenly dipped down few degrees making it very cold. Although it was windy, it was still a pleasure to walk in the bright sun shine.

On entering a department store we were greeted by a young boy dressed up as Santa Claus. Rohan was thrilled and excited as he dug inside his pouch for a surprise. Simple treats like a lollipop as a surprise bring ecstasy to a child’s face. It is a pleasure to see the happiness in their innocent face their gleaming eyes & their broad smile. That is when we realized the festive season is just round the corner and seeing the mall decked up felt nice and warm. I do hope the festive season brings cheers for everyone around the world and also improves the financial markets and props up the economy.

Last week we had a dinner party at our place and one of the starters was the spicy fish kebabs that I often make. I love the fish balls spiced and fried with mint and coriander.It goes well as a starter and are quite easy to make too.

Here is the recipe

1 can tuna (in natural water) drained.
¼ cup boiled mashed potatoes
3 tablespoon chopped coriander
2 tablespoon chopped mint
1 tablespoon ginger grated
1 tablespoon garlic grated
3 tablespoon chopped onions
1teaspoon chili powder
2 green chilies diced
1teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 tableaspoon garam masala.
Bread crumbs
1 egg
Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Oil for shallow frying.

Method
In a bowl, mix the all the above ingredients except egg, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, and oil. Mix well & adjust the salt according to your taste. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice and add the egg. If the mixture is slightly on the liquid side, add few tablespoons of breadcrumbs. Roll the mix into walnut side ball and coated them with bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry these balls on low fire. Drain on absorbent paper and serve hot with sauce or coriander chutney.

Kitchen notes - Rolls the balls and freeze them. Fry them on a low fire with out thawing. Alternatively you can use fresh white fish fillet. Slightly boil them and roll them as above.

These are a nice treat when the window glass frosts up on the outside and you are inside with a warm fire at the fireplace sipping some chardonnay. Enjoy...

I am sending this Kebab recipe to Ivy of kopiaste celebrating World food day-Time to be thankfull. I liked the theme of this event and many thanks to Ivy for hosting such a nice and thoughtfull event.

Coffee creme brulee

Flipping my table calendar over and welcoming November I assumed it would be more chilly and I would have to dust our woolies but with the global warming phenomenon the weather these days are becoming more and more un predictable and it is hard to believe that a wind breaker is adequate now in the month of November. Last year same time when we had visited Qingdao to get some first hand information before moving in for a long haul, I simply loved the snow on the beach and it was awesome to see the beautiful pagodas covered with a beautiful layer of white veil surrounded by the fern trees. I hope to see the scenery again. Snowing is not new to me but snow covered beaches was a first.

Seeing off my son at the bus stop, I thought of walking a few rounds of the campus we live and grab some fresh vegetables and fruits from the wet market that is just a stones throw distance. It is only a matter of chance & good fortune if u don’t get duped but I simply love the vibrant colors that are often missing at the supermarket display. Luckily I have a got hang of the numbers in Chinese and so it becomes little bit easy haggling with them over the price but it is very hard to win.

The province we are residing is the bread basket of the country & produces the most naturally grown organic vegetables and fruits. Fruits here are simple luscious and insanely sweet. I was never a fruit fan until coming here and luckily my son does have a penchant for nature’s best gift. I remember once we were traveling to Sikkim and he survived the whole week eating only fruits and drinking milk. The spicy taste of the restaurant food was still unacceptable to him. So we make it a point to carry fruits whenever we travel.

After our family visiting us left, I was leaning to a healthier version of cooking, but with our intense love for sweet, I thought of making something sinful and with Meeta’s event of monthly mingle featuring coffee and tea was the perfect excuse to indulge in the aromatic flavors that linger on with coffee and so with the most opportune moment. I made a change to vanilla creamy brulee and added the diluted Nestle instant coffee powder. It was delectable and we thoroughly enjoyed our helpings.

Here goes the recipe
Serves 2

ingredients
½ cup cream
2 to3 tablespoon sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon instant coffee powder diluted with 2 teaspoon of water.

Method
Heat the cream in a sauce pan and care should be taken not to boil the cream as it will curdle. Whisk the yolk and sugar. Remove the cream from heat and blend it to the egg mixture. Mix well and add cinnamon and coffee.

Heat the sauce pan and keep stirring on low fire for 5 mintues until the mixture thickens.

Preheat the oven to 180’c. In a big baking dish pour water and put the ramekins filled with above mixture. Bake it for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove and let it cool down. It may be a little wobbly in the centre. Cool it the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Note the coffee mix might be less intense so adjust according to your taste.

Remove and sprinkle ground coffee and cinnamon powder.

Ah yes! Like somebody said eat and drink without any guilt whatever you like but just make sure you never skip on your exercises- My best quote for the day.

This is second contribution to Monthly Mingle hosted by Meeta of what's for honey lunch

This article was featured in Reuters.

Pineapple sweet and sour (khatta)

What happens when you wake up with a blocked nose and your head spinning and a slight numb body ache? don’t you feel like tucking back into the sheets and not wanting to draw your thick curtains that still prevent the Sunbeam bunnies entering your room and basking you in the morning glow? Last week when my hubby came home after a business trip with his runny crimson nose I was sure that we wouldn’t be spared and would have to go through our generous share of the flu. It is often a mystery why we get plenty of things we never really want especially the flu and the nagging cold.

Staying just a few hundred yards from the sea shore, the air is always slightly chilly and often windy. After the morning alarm buzzed this Monday morning I reluctantly woke up but a good thing I learned as part of my yoga training is to stretch my self a bit to relax the stiffness in the main muscle groups. It feels so much better after a of couple of deep breaths and relaxing over a morning cuppa with a hint of cardamom, Cinnamon & ginger.

Biding adieu to father and son I felt like stretching myself again and grabbing a left over cuppa from the teapot and getting myself ready for my virtual tour of the magical world of culinary delights. It is so fascinating to see varieties and ideas that flip with a click and almost magically or should I say gastronomically u get to decide the day’s menu, and the most important after school snack box.

After being pampered staying in a serviced apartment close to three years in Beijing I decided to get hold of the broom and ground myself into reality. I have great regards for those who at the same time cook, clean and manage their household chores in spite of having a demanding job, Kudos and cheers to them for the hard work they put up to, to keep the family smiling. Juggling between Asian countries where we are pampered with a trained housekeeper and Australia, where things fell apart and managing all alone hit me hardest where it hurts most. I am glad that I have started enjoying both aspects and good to know that I still am pretty adept with the broom.

Last week when my hubby came back from his business trip, I wanted to prepare something authentic Odiya and I prepared this pineapple katta (sweet and sour) that is often a part of our extensive cooking palette.

The recipe is as follows

Ingredients

2 cups pineapple cut into chunks
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon pancha putana
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1 teaspoon paprika powder or roasted chili powder
Salt to taste
Few curry and red chilies for seasoning

Handful of raisins

Method

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add the pancha putana and when they start to crackle, add the curry leaves, red chilies and grated ginger, Sauté and add the pineapple chunks. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes till they are slightly tender. Add sugar, cover and cook on a low fire for 5 to 7 minutes till the pineapple are cooked and liquid is dried up. Season it with salt, cumin powder, raisins and paprika. Remove and cool.

Goes well as a side dish and can stay in fridge for a week.

Incidentally for the flu the best advice I have is fill yourself up with fluids, the safest and the best water and rest. Nothing else comes as close. Chicken soup and panadols are the next best thing and frankly have never been a great fan of needles to take the flu shots so cannot comment.

Coffee cup cake

Festivals are part of Indian culture and we do have plenty of excuses & opportunities to celebrate them. They always have had a special place in my heart, I remember as part of growing up, I would be waiting eagerly for Dusshera where my dad would buy me a couple of new nice outfits, It was such an endless to wait for November & then I would go berserk looking for a nice selection of clothes & colors to compliment my skin and lenses and have them stitched by the neighborhood tailor to custom fit me to the latest craze in the market. My dad always had a good eye and I simply loved his selections. Soon after Dusshera we in Orissa also celebrate Kumar purnami, which is also known as Sarat Purnima in many parts of India, It is celebrated on a full moon day by the Kumaries (unmarried girls) to get a nice loving husband, I am sure I had worked hard on it!. We make a beautiful crescent with the cottage cheese (chenna) and other sweetmeat offerings to the enchanting moon that promises us to have a good life ahead. It is celebrated with grandeur as the girls of the neighborhood sing dance and eat lovely festive goodies prepared by moms from the neighborhood.

These are some childhood memories that are forever etched in our thoughts even if they are not captured on celluloid. These are some great moments that bring that forgotten smile into our urban morning madness (rush) to our lips and revive the fond memories of yester years.

Grounding back into reality & coming back to my recipe of coffee cup cakes. This was a result of an event hosted by dear Meeta, I am sure she doesn’t need any introduction to the foodie world .She has a fantastic space and her presentation , photography are mind blowing. As a part of month mingle a wonderful event held every month, this month’s theme is none other than coffee and tea. Churning out a recipe with these beverages was really a great theme and I loved the intense aroma of coffee in these cup cakes.



Here is the cake

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1teaspoon baking powder
1teaspoon espresso powder or instant coffee granules
1/3 to ½ cup Sugar
¼ cup /canola oil/ butter
1 egg

½ cup choc chips
1/3 cup milk
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder

Method

Cream butter and sugar and add egg. Whisk till light and fluffy. Shift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg). Add the flour and milk alternatively to above mix until well incorporated. Mix the choc chips. Preheat the oven to180 ‘c. Grease a muffin pan. Spoon and level ¾ of the muffin hole and bake for 20 to 25 minutes till done. Remove and cool.

I used a ready made marzipan mix to decorate it. Roll and add the color of your choice. Using a cookies cutter, choose the shape desired. My son loved and enjoyed it thoroughly and it was an after school treats for him. Serve and enjoy.



Off goes this recipe to Monthlymingle hosted by Meeta of what's for lunch honey.