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 ...

It was Rakshabandhan, there was something utterly important missing...... My BROTHER :P . His exams are on, we could not even speak properly over phone ! (He is always occupied with some or the other test, quiz, assignment....... I wonder many times how does he juggle all this ??.............I did not so many things when I was studying ). He manages all this and has time for fun also !!!!! I wanted to dedicate something to my brother that day, something simple and special. Back home mom usually used to prepare a sweet, we than used to pray and then I tied the rakhi on my brother's hand and then all of us are indulging ourselves on the sweet that mom prepared. She mostly used to prepare a simple and tasty sweet on every Rakshabandhan. This is one of the sweets that my brother and myself relish. Well without any more delay, here is what we need to prepare Carrot Halwa, good amount for 2 persons. Carrots - 500 gms, grated with the big grater milk - 500 ml cashewnuts - 10 almonds - ...

It is Varalakshmi Vratham tomorrow said mom, yesterday. Brain starting generating all sorts of choices for sweets the ones that I either never tried like this one and the ones which were a flop in the consistency. hmmm..........I thought, I asked mom "What kind of sweets and savouries must I make tomorrow?". She told me to make a sweet with jaggery and any savoury like vada. Since quite some days I was contemplating to try out the "Boliyal" as it is called in sourashtra, bobbatlu in telugu, boli in tamil. Well whatever it is called I really miss the boliyal that mom used to make at home. The stuffing is made of simple ingredients, easy to combine and moreover tastes so good !! My recipe for the stuffing is adapted from the one mom used to prepare. The dough for the boliyal was a spontaneous one. I got six 4 to 4.5 inch dia boliyals for the measurements below, We need, For the stuffing : Channa dal - 1/4 cup Jaggery - 1/2 cup Coconut chopped - 1/2 cup Cashe...

Le Marché as it is called in French, the farmers market here has quite a few treasures in the summer. The colours of the vegetables, berries, fruits ohhhh!!!!!!!!!!........you feel like trying out all the market has to offer you. The variety of tomatoes, their colour, shapes and sizes ....... and all the tomatoes have a distinctive taste of their own. Some are sweet, some sour, some just have a subtle taste and are best when eaten in a salad. Let me show some of them.... The Normal variety of tomatoes Pearl tomatoes - Tomates perle Cherry tomatoes - Tomates cerise (The above loose ones the below in bunches or en grappes) San Marzano Tomatoes (I never tried them out) Tomates Rosé de berne I dont know the name, but they were quite sour these tomatoes Yellow tomatoes (for quite obvious reasons :P) - Tomates jaune The normal good looking variety of tomatoes in bunches - Tomates en grappe True salad tomatoes - Tomates coeur du boeuf (heart ...