Butter Biscuits in time for Valentine's day

I wanted to make something delicious for the Valentine's day and surpise my husband...as someone rightly said to win a man's heart is through his stomach :)...you may find cart of loads of stuff to buy for him...and but nothing will beat what you prepare on your own and gift him.

I have the note book with tried tested recipes for cakes, biscuits and more...I cherish this note book which is hand written by my perima with her tips and hints for baking....I will share a photo of this book in the coming days. Not even a single day passes by without flipping through the pages of it. I will browse it but ultimately not try anything from it...the sheer fear of messing the recipes up. Today I got the courage to try it and I made the biscuit that was mentioned in the very first page..

Thanks to my perima for sharing this wonderful book with me.

Ingredients:
All purpose Flour - 2 cups
Baking Powder - a pinch
Salt - a pinch
Butter - 1 stick
Vanilla essense - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 6 Tbsp
Sprinkles or any other topping as desired

Sieve the maida along with baking powder and add the salt.
Take the butter at room temperature and nicely blend it with the flour.
Add the sugar and vanilla essense and mix it well.
Make it into a smooth dough by lightly sprinkling the milk (you will get the dough the way you do it for badushah).
Roll the dough in the form of chappati (1/8th inch).
Cut it with the shape of your choice.
Since I did not have the cookie cutter. I shaped them with the knife. Decorated with edible sprinkles.

(Note: you may decorate it the way you want with icings, nuts etc).

Preheat the oven for 350 degrees.
Grease the baking tray and line up the biscuits.
Let it stand for 10 minutes. Brush the biscuits with milk.
Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes. The aroma of the biscuits from the vanilla and the butter ..smells sweet. Bake it and enjoy it for the aroma and the taste....

Spicy Vegetable Soup

I have been thinking for a long time about making a spicy hot vegetable soup and but  brushed it off as time consuming and never ventured to make it. Finally on one snowy day....when you get too lazy (just roam around the house) and not do anything....I set out to make this relishing spicy vegetable soup...I would consider the way I made it to the famous story - "The Stranger and the Magic Stone (Soup)"..I am pretty sure that everyone knows this story...the story goes like this...A stranger enters a village in the middle of the night - tired and hungry and goes about knocking every house but no one  opens the door for him. He gets an idea and knocks at the door saying he has a magic stone that can make delicious soup and they welcome him in. He asks for a vessel and starts adding water along with the magic stone...and murmurs within himself...how much good it will taste if we add tomatoes to this..so the oldest of the oldest kid runs to the garden and fetches it for him...and as the tomatoes are boiling...he murmurs again I wish we could add some carrots .. on hearing that the lady of the house goes and fetches some carrots for him...the stranger adds this to the soup and then as it is boiling adds wish we could add sweet potatoes to it...then the youngest child goes to fetch sweet potatoes for the soup...the stranger murmurs to himself wish we could add some beans to balance the sweet ness of the carrots and sweet potatoes...the elderly lady in that house plucks it from the garden and brings it to him....as the soup is boiling and getting to thicken he adds wish we had some salt and pepper to spice it up....

I would  say the way I made the soup was similar to the story above (except that I did not have any magic stone while making the soup!!)  ....As to how the story ends I am going to leave it to the readers imagination :) !! But as to they way my soup turned out - absolutely splendid!!

Ingredients -

Bay Leaf - 1

Fennel Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch piece

Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Tomatoes - 4 medium size

Onion - cut 1/2 cup
Spring Onions - 3 strands

Beans, Carrots , Sweet potatoes and Corn (frozen) - all together 1 1/2 cups cut into small pieces (you may even use frozen vegetables ...making things easier)

Salt and Pepper (crushed) - as per the taste

Butter - 1/2 TBS

Olive Oil - 1 tsp

Take a heavy bottomed pan and add the butter and oil. After the butter melts and the oil gets heated add the bay leaf , cinnamon stick and the onions. Saute till the onion turns slightly brown. Now add the onion bulb (the bottom part of the spring onions) and saute it for a while.

If you are not using frozen veggies, boil them in microwave and set it aside. Add this to the pan and fry them.

(If you are using frozen veggies you may just add it after the onions turn brown)

Make puree by blending the tomatoes and add some veggies that are boiling in the pan. Add this mixture to the boiling pot of soup. Now add salt, all the other powders, the green part of the spring onions and the pepper. Let it boil for 15 minutes or so in medium flame.

Simmer the stove and allow it to thicken in the low flame for atleast an hour and a half. It will slowly let the raw smell from the tomatoes to go off and will take in the flavours from the spices that were added to the soup. It will also thicken to a nice consistency.

Add croutons and serve the warm soup...it was good and apt for a snowy day!!

The Sunday Lunch Spread!!

For the past one week or so I have not been eating pretty well....I was not feeling well last weekend and I guess that triggered it...it looks like I lost few pounds too (sure that’s a good thing :) ) ....

I was bored of eating pasta, kurma whole of last week...wanted something South Indianish - the satvik food devoid of onions (I do not like garlic anyway)....and I had been to my friend's house for dinner last night (I should have taken a photo of what she prepared....excellent food...starting with samosas and dahi vada, parata, kurma, rajma, ghee rice, mysore rasam....and ended with a mouth watering carrot halwa...). This triggered my interest (or craving) for a lavish lunch...I generally like to eat three course meal for my Sunday lunch.....hence started planning as soon as I got up ... Hoping I am not the only one here pertaining to this question - do you guys ask this question and keep asking people around you for suggestions " The $100 question - What should I cook today - I am bored of coming up with what to cook give me ideas or tell me what you want?" ...My husband had not woken up yet .. to pester him with "the famous question - what shall I cook??" and anyways I had decided to fix a nice meal....so there begins the saga of finding what’s in the refrigerator....it looked like I had lot of veggies sitting in there for more than a week now....When I sorted there  was little bit (by little bit I mean....if I cook it will be there for couple of days) of everything.......

So first I wanted to make paruppu urundai kuyambu....but these veggies ?? what to do with them...wanted to incorporate them some way or other in the meal I was preparing...so the first one to come out was sorakai (the so brinjal like looking...you can call it the "Anna" of brinjal (my husband and I do not like the much loved brinjal) bottlegourd)...so that clearly turned into kootu...I leaped further into my crisper and there came raw banana...one of my favourite...that was sure to become a dry curry....so I dig in further and I find spinach leaves and I had got kale leaves (my friend mentioned about this last week....so I had got it when we went for grocery shopping)...so that was instantaneously turned into spinach kale kootu (molagootal or however it may be called in different parts of India...) I liked the turnout of keerai (green leafy vegetables) kootu with the touch of kale...Now that I liked the taste of this leafy vegetable...will be experimenting more with this lovely leafy vegetable ( my friend got to know about this kale leaves when her sis was over to her house last weekend....and thanks to her for passing on the tip of using this tasty kale leaves to me!!)...so the digging continues and I did mention right about the mysore rasam that my friend made yesterday...I was checking emails this morning and was thinking whether to call and find the secret ingredients that went with the rasam... my computer blinks with her name as I was about to move to check the news....pat (telepathy) she comes online....and hence I find out the recipe for it and I am too happy now and get more excited about the lunch am going to prepare...I just could not get my head off the spicy hot mysore rasam....it did not turn out as good as she made it (but ok...not too bad either..my husband and son enjoyed it!!)...I had made raw mango pickle last week when I had called friends over for dinner and had a tiny bit remaining (which I know if I make it again will be sitting in refrigerator for couple of days...but that did not deter me from making it) ... and I had the vendaya kaduku (fenugreek mustard powder too left over from last week's prep of this pickle)...since it will be lot more simpler now...that also becomes part of the spread (a South Indian lunch can never be devoid of curd rice...more so over...the pickle can be had with anything and everything right) so there comes the instant raw mango pickle...and before I forget to mention I had to make the much loved pithatha...if you are wondering what on earth this vegetable is ....that's how my son refers to vendakai (Okra/ladies finger)...so when I am making a lavish spread...I cannot leave him behind ...so made that too....I had just kept the rice and was giving finishing touches and preparing to leave the kitchen as we were planning to have lunch and after my husband's gym routine at Y ...we were planning to take our son to the chuck-e-cheese... my husband asked me what about pavakai pitlai (bittergourd gravy)....even I was thinking there is only keerai and sorakai kootu and no sambhar or anything to start with,,,,he mentions bittergourd....so I continue my digging into the refrigrator...and there I find it hiding beneath my beets....so I start the process and now it became an ultimate Sunday lunch....

As I was just wondering...if it had been India we could have had the meal in a banana leaf (it is believed that eating in banana leaf adds a touch of aroma to the food we eat)...I get reminded of our favourite stainless steel thali plate (my mom got me these plates since I mentioned to her..that her beloved son-in-law loves to eat so much in this)...I always reserved this plate for festivals or important days!! But I bring that out to have this hearty Sunday lunch...

Thanks to my friend for triggering it with a lovely dinner last night...without her I would have made lunch....but might have been something different!! We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and set out to chuck-e-cheese on a cold afternoon. Will add the recipes for Spinach Kale Keerai Kootu, Mysore Rasam and Sorakai Kootu as a continuation to this post....and the Pavakkai (bittergourd) Pitlai too.............

Chakkarai Pongal

You guys might be wondering how come she is posting the recipe for Chakkarai Pongal a month after Sankranthi.. I thought it is better late (or little early for next Pongal...No No no..... Do we need a reason or festival to eat good Chakkarai Pongal?? The minute you think of Chakkarai Pongal..you are reminded of  Parthasarathy Temple (a famous temple in Triplicane , near Marina Beach, Chennai ,TN)...wondering what that means...any Chennaite would know it I guess!!... Chakkarai Pongal and Parthasarathy Temple go hand in hand....You should taste it atleast once in your life time...and that taste remains for ever...It will be loaded with cashew, raisins and dollops of ghee....Adhu dhan original Chakkarai Pongal...Probably I was thinking on these terms (thinking of Parthasarathy) that I felt the one I made this year also came close (can never beat that one!!) to what is made at the temple. 

As to how we make chakkarai pongal  back home on the day of Sankranthi...we make this in vengala panai ....  we mark it with the thiruman kappu (similar to the mark on the fore head of maha vishnu) and then tie it with a piece of  sugar cane (which is reaped only during that month), a piece of coconut, a banana and raw turmeric (which is also reaped during this time)...but when I make it here - all these go around my pressure cooker!! I have to find out from my mom or patti as to why we tie these around the pot. This Chakkarai Pongal is cooked with the new rice that was harvested that year entirely in milk (but here I pressure cook rice, dhal with enough milk). Back home after the jaggery is added and when it boils over ....all the kids gather around and shout "Pongalo Pongal" along with the playing of damaram (that damaru is also used on the day before  - for bhogi too ...when we burn the old stuff in front of the house...and this damaru is played...I guess to ring in the good things and to ward of evil!!)  As you finish the gosham of Pongalo Pongal accompanied  by the humble damaram...you will start hearing the same at your neighbour's house. You must visit the mada veedi and around the kulam (in Mylapore, Chennai , Tamil Nadu) ..to see the kolams (rangoli) drawn in front of the house and to witness the kolam competition, to do shopping for the karumbu (sugarcane), thoranam (decorative piece for the house during festivities), vazhai ilai (banana leaf) , pasu manjal and what not........Mylai (in short for Mylapore) holds a special place in my heart....nostalgic memories!! Having travelled from Triplicane to Mylapore...you must all be tired and starving...lets take a plunge into the ingredients for making the Sugar Pongal...

Rice - 1 Cup

Moong Dhal - 1 fist full (1 TBSP)

Jaggery - (we call it pagu vellam) - 1 1/4 cup

Water - 1/2 Cup

Milk - 4 Cups

Cardomom powder

Cashew, Almonds, Raisins

Ghee - 1/2 Cup

Nutmeg - 1/2 tsp

Wash rice and dhal. Add 4 cups milk to the rice and dhal and pressure cook it for four to five whistles.
Always roast cardomom in ghee and then grind it to get better results.
Take ghee in a heavy bottom pan and roasts the nuts and keep it aside (this way you need not use one more pan to roast them at the end for adding it in the Chakkarai Pongal).
In the same heavy bottom pan and add water. Dissolve Jaggery in it - allow it to thicken to one string consistency.
Add the cooked rice and dhal to the jaggery and mix well.
Add the ghee to the pongal and keep it in the stove for few more minutes.
Add the nutmeg, cardomom and the nuts.
The yummy sugar pongal is ready to be served.

Fruit Tart

Celebrating moving to the new blogspot...

I had this tart during my trip to the UK couple of years ago. My husband had the fruit tart for lunch and got one for me too from a super market called Morrisons. It was soft, moist and melting in the mouth...sheer indulgence!! It was a light desert after a heavy meal. I have been trying to decipher the ingredients for it..but was not fruitful in the attempt. At long last I found something closer to the recipe.

I had called our friends for dinner last Friday and decided to make it for them... It turned out good and I found it easy to make. I was glad our friends liked it and one of my friend's son who hardly eats anything....ate couple of them...I was too happy that he liked it!!

Now coming to the ingredients for making it.



Ready crust graham tarts - 2 pack
Vanilla Instant Pudding - 5.1 Oz ( 6 1/2 cup servings pack (I used Jell-O))
Ready whip cream - 3 to 4 TBSP
Mascarapone cheese - 1/2 tub (8 Oz)
Fruits of your choice for decoration - I choose the strawberries, Blue Berry and the mandarin oranges (since they are in season)

(Note: For Best Results - Make this on the day you are going to serve to prevent the tarts from getting soggy)

Prepare the pudding as mentioned in the packing.
Whisk the mascarapone cheese and the ready whip using the hand whipper (till they become soft and fluffy).
Cut the Strawberries into half and take the half and cut in the centre to get the shape like petals.
Wash the berries and keep it aside (it should be dry).
Peel the skin of the oranges and keep them aside.
Arrange the tart in a tray.
Carefully scoop a spoon full of the pudding and start filling the tart one by one till you are done with filling the pudding.
Next start layering it with mascarapone whip cream on every tart.
Decorate with the fruits.
I reserved the orange to be decorated before serving since I was not sure whether it might start leaving the juice from it.
Refrigerate till set or until it is served.
Decorate it with the oranges just before serving.

Super Duper easy desert is ready to be served..I am planning to try out more recipes using this ready crust tarts....will keep you all posted!!