carrotsandcherries

This is my "Premier défi or Prima sfida" : My first Daring Bakers challenge :) All went well (Thank God for that !!!!) I registered in the daring kitchen for both daring bakers and for the daring cooks challenges............FUN ! that is what I thought :) so it was. I was super excited with being accepted in to the daring kitchen for both the challenges.  This daring bakers Nov 2010 challenge was to make "CROSTATA" or "PASTA FROLLA" in Italian. It was hosted by Simona from Briciole She had chosen the Italian dessert Crostata. I have seen these kind of tarts here in the pâtisseries and mostly in the supermarkets in the baked or ready to bake section. I have never done this at home and neither had I tasted a tart till the time I had baked one myself :) I used the first recipe version1 of Pasta frolla that Simona had given, We require, Superfine sugar - 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp (150 ml / 100 gms / 31/2 oz) OR Powdered sugar - a scant 3/4 cup (180 ml / 90 ...

This is a simple way to mix different vegetables into the same dish. I have adapted this recipe from a friend, (long story behind it !!!! :P ) So here's what we need, Aubergine (Eggplant/brinjal) - 1 big Green Capsicum - 1 small (Any colour should be good) Zucchini - 1 medium Onion - 1 big Ginger-garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp Cherry tomatoes - 6 (can be substituted by 2 small ordinary tomatoes) Corriander powder - 2/3 tsp Chilli powder - 1/3 tsp Garam masala -  1/3 tsp Water - 1/4 cup Salt to taste The following spices are to be dry roasted and coarsely ground, Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp (Kalonji - 1/4 tsp can also be added) Method: 1. Slice the brinjal, zucchini and capsicum longitudinally into thin slices as shown below 2. Slice the onions, chop the tomatoes and make the ginger-garlic paste ready. I have taken a photo of this also :) 3. Heat oil and sauté each of the sliced vegetables separately ti...

This is a quick morning post on the blog. We just had some yummy mango milkshake ;) Here is what we need, Mango - 3/4th of a big one pureed and filtered Chilled Milk - 375 ml Powdered sugar - 8 to 10 tsps 1. Pour the chilled milk in the blender, add in the mango puree. Use the pulse mode to blend it once. 2. Now add the powdered sugar and blend it using the pulse mode and the 1st speed. 3. Milkshake is ready to be enjoyed ! Thanks for visiting my blog :)

I was bored !!!! (of cooking ???? Oh my GOD !!!!...............) It happens if I have been in the kitchen for really long stretches (3hrs or more) deep frying something. This Diwali season I made 5 types of savories and 2 sweets. Recently, we had this Diwali get-together at my house (It was so much FUN !!!!), and I had served these savories and sweets that I had made. I was feeling like a blushing kid who had won a prize, when our friends were complimenting me for the snacks :) (Thanks guys !). Ok now back to where we were. The day on which I had fried so many things, I wanted to prepare something that can tingle my tastebuds. Something simple to put together. I already had some fresh salad, and I had to prepare something complementing that. Pasta ! that was the immediate thing that came to my mind which will go along well with a salad. Now, I was thinking of how to make a different type of pesto for the spaghetti that I was going to make for dinner. The basic ingredients had to be ...