carrotsandcherries

Quite a simple baking challenge but a tricky panna cotta challenge ! This month's daring baker's challenge was hosted by  Mallory of  asofainthekitchen . After much thinking, I tried to give it a go. Since I am trying to avoid baking (regularly) as all that is showing of on the waistline !!!!! I tried making a really low fat vegetarian version of panna cotta (a trial which did not work so well as in the texture) and I also reduced the amount of butter and sugar in the florentines. So here is a quick post on the ridiculously low fat panna cotta and perfectly sweet and lacy five cereal florentines. Vanilla Blanc battu panna cotta (vegetarian) Milk (2.5 % fat) - 250 gms Blanc battu (0.2 % fat) - 200 gms Agar agar powder - 8 gms Sugar - 50 gms Vanilla sugar - 20 gms 1. In a pan pour in the milk, the sugar both varieties and the agar agar powder. Stir well till there are no lumps. 2. On Low heat bring this mixture to a boil and let it boil for 2 mins. 3. Take of the heat...

WOW..........yumm !! We really liked the combinations. I found it very easy to make and I made a vegan version of tempura which came out well and tasted as good. I will definitely make this again ! I thank  Lisa for challenging us with this Noodle dish from Japan. I simply loved this challenge. The best and the most enjoyable part of the challenge was eating it :P I just followed the recipe given  here , scaled it down and made it vegan (egg free) and vegetarian for us. I also did not find any soba noodles, so I used the regular noodles that is easily available in the Asian food section here. Some pics (taken in a real hurry !!) of our Japanese lunch. Thanks for visiting my blog :)

It is quite sometime since I blogged :) Yesterday I got hands on some very fresh white button mushrooms here and I prepared a lightly spiced rice using them as the main ingredient. No one can beat mom in preparing mushroom biriyani. The taste is simply WOW !........Whenever she prepares this dish, the whole house retains the utterly mouth watering aromas of the spiced basmati rice. I have tried this dish several times, to my delight only today was it tasting a little like the one mom used to prepare. Do not get discouraged by me saying this, I had an ingredient missing !!!! It was Garam masala powder. This powdered spice mix enhances the flavour of a dish immensely and caution has to be taken to not add too much of this spice powder to a dish. I had recently bought a pack of couscous. I prepared it with some veggies, just like the Indian vegetable upma. I had cooked the couscous separately before adding it to the veggies. As soon as the couscous was cooked, I had a taste of it and a...