Easy Mango shrikhand

Mango shrikhand is one more dessert from North India , but popular among all those mango lovers. As I have a lot of Gujarati friends, I get to taste the most delicious traditional mango shrikhands as wells as quick fix shrikhands.  We all know that desserts are supposed to be served after a large meal, but in Gujarati cuisine (my friends' house), they would serve at least 3 desserts along with food and conclude it with a 'dried sweet betel paan' or lassi. There I came to know that, this shrikhand can be used as a dip for poori (which is a staple during their festivals). I too started adding a pinch of sweetness in my dishes because of my love for Gujarati foods.
After seeing many shrikhand recipes in my friend's house, I made this lesser fat version and it is very easy to make too. Mine is not a traditional shrikhand. Traditionally this dessert should be made using whole milk curd. My low-fat version also tastes little similar and can be enjoyed any time.
Enjoy !

Mango shrikhand

Mango puree with sour cream

Sour cream

whipped sour cream

Add mango puree , brown sugar and cardamom powder

Preparing custard base

Mix everything together

Transfer to containers and keep refrigerated

Less fat Mango shrikhand  on an embroidery ....made in Gujarat :)  Love this !

Ingredients:
Mango puree - 850 gm (almost 2 lb)
Sour cream (low fat) - 450 gm (1 lb)
low fat milk - 1 cup
low fat milk - 1/4 cup
custard powder (vanilla /mango flavor) - 2 tbsp
sugar - 3/4 cup
cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Method:
First prepare the custard, as it needs cooling time.
Bring 1 cup milk to boil. Dissolve custard powder in 1/4 cup milk. REDUCE the heat and add this custard mix. Within 30 seconds it would start thickening, keep on stirring for 1 minute. Switch off the stove and let cool completely.
In a wide mixing bowl pour the sour cream. Whip it to a smooth consistency using a fork.
Add the mango puree, sugar, cardamom powder and mix well.
Add the custard at room temperature. Mix well and transfer to containers.
Keep refrigerated for at least 2 hours before serving (I keep it overnight).
Mango shrikhand is ready !

Serving suggestion:
Serve as dessert.
Ideally this should be served in small cups (2 - 3 tbsp in each cups).
Makes almost 20 servings

Note:
*Instead of custard powder we can use corn starch too.
*The custard we prepared can be replaced with low fat cream cheese (whipped smoothly).

Carrot sweet pickle

Carrot pickle has become our new favorite now. Carrot is one of my most favorite vegetables. So I used to prepare carrot pachadi (raitha) in order to include more carrots. But recently my hubby dear started preferring cooked foods over raw. So I have to stick with carrot poriyal varieties often. See below for more carrot recipes from my kitchen.  Instead of regular stir fry, I made a pickle using carrot, just like how we do the mango pickle and believe me, this tastes and smells just like mango pickle. This is a sweet version of Tamilnadu pickle. Hope you all love this !

Recipe inspiration : Priya's Carrot pickle. Thanks Priya ! Almost 6 years back while reading your recipe only, I came to know that we can make pickle with carrots too. I kept that in my mind, but now only I tried it :) It tastes amazing dear. Thanks !

Carrot pickle with methi thepla and beetroot raita

Peel and cut the carrots in to rounds.

Chop into small squares. I have used a Vidalia onion chopper from 'Bed Bath and Beyond '  stores. That makes the chopping easier.

chopped carrot.

My homemade puliyotharai powder. I always keep this in freezer.

Lime / lemon for pickle

Sauteed carrot

Add jaggery or brown sugar, salt after the carrot is almost cooked.

Switch off and let cool. add lemon juice.

Store the carrot pickle in  an airtight container. 

carrot pickle with methi thepla and beetroot pachadi.

Sweet carrot pickle
Ingredients:
Carrot - 2 big (300 gm)
brown sugar - 1 tbsp (heaped)
red chili powder - 1 tsp
sesame oil - 1/4 cup
mustard seed, fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp each
hing powder - 1/4 tsp
salt - to taste (1.5 tsp)
lemon  1 1/2 (big)

To powder : (puliyotharai powder) *
Methi / fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp
mustard (kadugu) seed - 1 tsp
hing - tiny piece (like a black pepper)

Method:
Peel and rinse the carrots.  Wipe and clean without any moisture. 
Cube the carrots. 
Heat a drop of oil in a wok. Fry the mustard, methi and hing till mustard pops. Powder these together. 
Now heat the 1/4 cup sesame oil in a wok. Add mustard, fenugreek and let the mustard crackle. Sprinkle the hing powder.
Put the chopped carrots and stir well. Cook covered till tender crisp stage. Then add the dry chilly powder, salt and saute.  Put jaggery / brown sugar, prepared powder mix well and switch off.
Add  juice of  1 1/2  to 2 lemons and mix well.Check for salt and let cool completely.
Store in clean bottles. Let cool completely. secure with a lid and keep refrigerated. Stays good for a week to 10 days. (It never lasts longer than that in my house, so I don't know the maximum shelf-life of this pickle). 

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with curd rice or any rice or roti.

Note:
*  I have used a vegetable chopper in this recipe.
It takes less than 5 minutes to cube a lot of carrots, if we use a good quality vegetable chopper.  Believe me, using a vegetable chopper makes our life more pleasant :) 
** I make this powder for puliyotharai  (see ingredients) and keep it in freezer up to 3 months. This is my pickling masala powder as well.
*** Always  use good quality sesame oil  (any oil) in this recipe, because the beta-carotene in the carrot is a fat soluble vitamin and it becomes more available to our body (becomes Vitamin A).  Carrot becomes more nutritious food while cooking.
I have used Lakshmi brand sesame oil here.

Other carrot recipes:
Tomato carrot soup
Carrot kuLi paniyaram
Vegetable uthappam
Moovarna poriyal
Carrot usili
Carrot paratha
Simple beans carrot poriyal
Vegetable biriyani with carrot pachadi
carrot halwa

St. Martha's day

Today is St.Martha's day. This is not just a day for a saint, this is the day for all housewives. 
St.Martha is the patron saint of housewives, waiters and waitress.
When Jesus visited Martha and Mary's house, Martha worked hard to cook and serve the Lord. While Mary was sitting and listening to the Lord. (Both are essential in my opinion. If a guest comes, someone should accompany them and that is what Mary was doing. At the same time someone needs to cook and serve the guests too, and that's Martha). May be Mary had a greater vision about God than Martha and she could have known about HIS miracles better. But as a normal woman, Martha tried to do her best to take care of Jesus and his friends that accompanied him to her house. In my view, the world needs more Marthas as well as Marys...well if possible a mix of both in one body :)

St. Martha cooking and serving for Jesus and his followers.(Image courtesy :link )

She is one of my most favorite saints. Blessed are her hands that cooked for our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Have a beautiful day all !
Love,
Viki Xavier

Rosemilk falooda

As far as I know, Falooda is a welcome drink in North India. It can be served as dessert too.  Falooda was not popular in my native place until we came to US. But I have tasted it in Chennai. I didn't try to make it for a long time, until I prepared one vanilla falooda along with my neighbor aunty on a weekend. She prepares this in a jiffy, while all are talking. I assist her in arranging and serving, that's my first falooda experience.  But after learning her method, I made this rose milk falooda for her and our family on a summer weekend. As I made this as a mid-morning drink for us all, I kept everything ready the day before itself. (read my recipe below to know how to save time in making falooda). Then just before serving I layered the ingredients and topped it with homemade kulfi ice cream. If we are not having kulfi ice cream, then add some crushed nuts and dry fruits along with the cooked vermicelli to make it richer.

A welcome drink !

Preparation:

Rosemilk mix, basil seeds, thin vermicelli

mix the rosemilk mix in  1/4 c cold milk

Bring whole milk to a boil and add sugar.

add the rose milk mix and mix well

soak the basil seeds and keep refrigerated until use

cooking the vermicelli noodles

keep everything handy and  keep refrigerated

prepare the falooda up to this stage before adding ice cream and keep refrigerated.

Just before serving add a scoop of ice cream in each glass and enjoy !

Ingredients:
Rosemilk mix - 2 tbsp
whole milk - 3 cups
sugar - 1/2 cup
Falooda semiya (thin vermicelli) - 2 handful
water - to cook semiya
sabja seeds (basil / Takmariya seeds) - 3 tbsp
Vanilla or kulfi ice cream - 1 scoop per glass

Preparation: 
1.Bring whole milk to a boil. Dissolve the rose milk mix in 1/4 cup cold milk or water. Add this to the boiling milk and mix well. If needed add required sugar to make it really really sweet. This is important, because once we cool the milk, it may need more sugar. Let it cool completely and keep in fridge.
2. Keep the falooda seeds (basil) in a container. Add enough water to immerse it. It may take nearly 30 minutes to soak and puff up.
3. Bring 3 cups of water to boil. Add the thin semiya. It will get cooked in a minute. Using a colander, drain the water and discard. Rinse the vermicelli in cold water , so that it gets loosened. Keep in fridge.

I suggest doing these 3 steps ahead of time , as they need to get cooled very well before serving. Also making them ahead would be a great idea if served for guests as a welcome drink.

Assembling the falooda:
Keep ready some tall glass tumblers.
Divide the vermicelli and put a little in each glass.
Likewise divide the rose milk and pour in each glass equally.
Top with soaked basil seeds.
Keep in fridge until serving.
Just before serving, add a generous scoop of kulfi ice cream and place a spoon in each drink.
Rosemilk falooda is ready !

Serving suggestion:
Serve as dessert or mid-morning drink.
Makes 5 glasses of medium size (8 oz).

South Indian Vegetarian Party

Recently we hosted a party for our neighbor aunty, who has become a new grandma. That's the baby's first party to go and that made it more memorable for us. So here is the menu I prepared for the new mom and grandparents and family.

South Indian dinner party 

Poori is getting ready !

My party menu !

Here is the menu :
Cucumber salad
Ulunthu vadai with fresh coconut chutney
Idli  with sweet mango sambar
Poori with potato masala
Kulfi ice cream

Hope you all love this party menu as much as we all do !

Corn and Bean salad

Even though we all strive to cook elaborate snacks on weekends, secretely we all would long to have something quick to fix. All the home cooks have some magic recipe in their sleeve to make their family happy on a weekend, without standing in the kitchen for long time. May it be a store bought chips packet or homemade murukku, but the smile we see in our love's face is important :) Right !
 In my house sundal (Indian lentil salad) is one snack that saves me a lot of time.  Corn and bean salad is another easy to do recipe.  Click to see my 'colorful corn and bean salad'. Mostly I buy frozen corn in a bag. But if you are willing, you can prepare it from fresh corn too. Tea time snacks in my house is mostly easy to fix types.  When it comes to lentils, I always buy dried beans. Dried beans are inexpensive and belongs to 'good eats'. Canned beans comes handy, when we need to soak them.  I cook black bean ahead , portion them and freeze it in small containers. So here is my hubby's favorite 5 minute sundal / salad.

Corn and bean salad

Ingredients:
Sweet corn - 1 cup
black bean - 1/2 cup
Parmesan cheese - 2 tbsp (optional)
salt , pepper - to taste
lemon - few drops

Method:
Boil the corn and remove the kernels from cob using a knife. (or) Just buy a bag of frozen corn and keep it handy.
Take a cup of frozen corn and rinse in water. Put it in a microwavable cup. Microwave it for 2 minutes . I don't cover it while microwaving.
Mix it with cooked hot black bean. Add salt, pepper, cheese , lemon juice and mix well.
Corn bean salad  is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack or side dish with baked chicken and vegetables.

Vegetable Kara paniyaram

Paniyaram is a snack that looks like American cake-pops. They are made in special pans called 'kuzhipaniyara kal' . Those pans are the very same as puff pancake pans here.
Mostly the paniyaram batter is made with rice and dal.  We can make many varieties too. Check out my Kaara paniyaram, keerai paniyaram, carrot kuli paniyaram, sweet paniyaram, wheat paniyaram,  ragi paniyaram, unniappam, deep fried banana paniyaram . In this I have added many vegetables and it makes it more scrumptious.

Vegetable kaara paniyaram with tomato chutney

Ingredients:

dosa batter - 1 1/2 cup
ravai (sooji / semolina) - 2 tbsp
besan flour - 2 tbsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
oil - as per need
carrot, beans, capsicum, cabbage or any combo of vegetables - finely minced together 3/4 cup

To temper:

mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
urad dhal - 1 tsp
sesame oil - 1 tsp
onion - 1/4 (small)
green chilly - 2
cilantro, curry leaf - few leaves.
asafoetida (hing) - a pinch

Method:

Take the dosa batter in a mixing bowl, and add sooji to it.

It is not traditional to add besan flour, but I add it to get golden red paniyaram.

10 minutes before starting to prepare the paniyaram, add the baking soda and mix well. 

In the mean time prepare the tempering.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small wok and add mustard seeds. Once they start splutter, add the urad dhal, hing and finely chopped onion, cilantro, curry leaf, chopped chilly and let it get slightly tender. Then goes the chopped vegetables. Cook the vegetables crispy tender. Sprinkle some salt. Add it to the batter and mix well.
Now heat a paniyaram pan and brush some oil in all the holes. Then add 1/2 tsp sesame oil / butter in each hole. Reduce the flame to minimum and pour the batter to halfway in each hole. Click to see the picture. Let it get cooked. Cook covered or in open. (I prefer putting a lid to ensure uniform cooking). We can see the paniyaram getting cooked, by the golden color appearing in the edges. Flip using a skewer or fork (I use a spoon and fork). Cook for a minute.  Take out and serve immediately.

Serving suggestion:
Makes a breakfast or snack with tea or dinner or appetizer.
Makes almost 21 paniyaram .
Serve with coconut chutney, Tomato chutney

Note:

Click to read my kaara paniyaram recipe from scratch.
I used left over dosa batter (5 days old) in this recipe (old dosa batter contains lesser urid dal and that's the best for paniyaram).
Do everything in low heat. It may take a little while but that is the only way to get whole fluffy paniyaram (in a traditional pan).
Non stick pans work the best. But I have used a pan similar to traditional thick paniyaram pan.
For the first round it may require more oil to fry, but it will take very lesser in the next batches.
Tastes the best when it is very hot.

Sometimes we soak some kara paniyaram in sambar and serve like sambar vadai.

Time taken: around 30 minutes

Orange cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon bun is an easy to make recipe.  We can see this dessert in many restaurants here. Also ready-made and ready to bake versions can be bought from grocery stores. Usually this bun should be glazed with white powdered sugar.  But I wanted to try something different and I tried 'Orange cinnamon rolls' from the book 'Trisha's Table' , which I got from library.  The citrus flavor in this recipe makes the usual rolls more scrumptious. Try this and enjoy !

Orange cinnamon rolls

Steps:

This is the first recipe I tried as soon as I got a kitchenaid mixer from Santa during Christmas ☺

cinnamon sugar over the dough

before rising. In this stage, we can wrap and keep it refrigerated overnight to bake freshly the next morning.

After baking

Orange cinnamon rolls

For Dough:
Active dry yeast - 1 pack (2 1/4 tsp)
sugar - 1/4 cup + 1 tsp
lukewarm water - 1/4 cup
olive oil - 1/4 cup
orange zest - 1 tbsp
orange juice - 1/4 cup
whole milk - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 3 1/2 cups
salt - 1 tsp
For filling:
salted butter (softened) - 3 tbsp
light brown sugar - 1 cup
cinnamon powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Orange glaze:
confectioner's sugar - 2 cup
orange juice - 3 tbsp

Method:
Combine yeast, 1 tsp sugar, lukewarm water together in a small bowl. Let it activate for 10 minutes. It will bubble and double in volume.
In another bowl, mix together sugar, oil, orange zest, orange juice and milk.
In an electric mixer bowl, add four and salt. Add yeast solution, orange juice mix. Fix the dough hook and set it to speed 2 and 3 and beat till it becomes a dough. It may take 5 minutes.
Or we can make this dough manually too.
Now cover that mixer bowl with an air tight plastic wrap. Let it remain in room temperature for 1 hour and see that it gets double in size.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Coat a baking tray with cooking oil and keep aside.

Clean the kitchen counter and flour the surface. Roll the dough to a rectangle of 1/4 inch thickness. Coat the dough with butter leaving 1/4 inch border. Sprinkle brown sugar and then cinnamon powder over it.
Roll the dough to a cylindrical shape and pinch the ends together and seal completely.
Cut it into 12 equal size rolls. Place them in the baking tray. Cover it with plastic wrap again and let it rise for 30 more minutes. Now it would double in volume.
Now remove the wrap and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. It will turn mild brown and that means it is done.

In a small bowl, mix together confectioner's sugar, orange juice. Drizzle this over the cinnamon rolls , while they are still warm.
Orange cinnamon rolls is ready !

Serving suggestion:

Serve as dessert or breakfast.

Makes 12 rolls.

Happy Ramadan !

Happy Ramadan !

Happy Independence day !

Happy Independence day dear America !

American Flag model in Roadside America, PA.

Snow peas poriyal

Snow-peas can be compared with Indian broad beans /avarakkai (Tamil) / chikkudukaya (Telugu) / sem (Hindi) / avara (Malayalam).

Snow peas come in peak season during summer here. Mostly it is steam cooked with little salt and consumed as a snack or appetizer. But most of the Indian women I know would prefer making a spicy stir-fry like mine :) Have a look at my spicy avarakkai fry too.
Our fist place in US was Missouri. We were in a cozy little town called Ofallon. That place really looked like a hallmark greetings or Thomas kinkade painting for me. That beautiful little town we lived had only one Indian grocery store (named Suvidha). At that time, they would bring fresh vegetables and groceries on only one evening in a week and that would get sold in minutes. Also the prices would look huge for anyone who had just relocated to USA from India. We were also one among those who would do multiplication  on looking at the dollars. Students and newbies think like that and I am sure there is nothing wrong in thinking of saving.  So we would go to the local American grocery stores like Schnucks or Shop and save or mostly Aldi to buy vegetables. In the beginning , we all wouldn't fuss much to get typical Indian vegetables like brinjal, gourds etc and rejoiced on seeing beans and carrots there :) (In our native we always wanted vegetables from cooler zones).
After few months, everyone would start looking for more nostalgic tastes. At that time we found this vegetable. It was like a sweet medley of avarakka and crispy cucumber. I started cooking this after that day and we like this poriyal very much. Enjoy !

Fresh snow peas 

snow peas poriyal

Ingredients:
snow peas - 1/2 lb
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cumin - 1 tsp
salt - to taste.
To Temper:
onion - 1/2 cup (chopped)
green chili - 2
mustard - 1/2 tsp
urid dal - 1/2 tsp
coconut oil / olive oil - 2 tsp

Method:
Chop the snow peas into small pieces.
Slit the green chilli into two (or) chop finely.
Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard, urid dal and let the mustard crack.
Then add the chopped onion and saute till it gets tender.
Then add the chopped chillies, snow peas and Saute well.
Sprinkle a handful of water and cook covered for 5 minutes in medium heat.
Then add required salt. Open and let it get dry
It will get cooked in almost 10 minutes in medium heat.
Then add the shredded coconut, cumin and stir well for a  minute.
Switch off.
Snow peas poriyal is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with rice and any curry like sambar, puli kuzhambu.
Try this with my favorite sweet mango sambar and enjoy !

Tamilnadu's village style mixture

Mixture / namkeen  / மிக்ஸர் is a popular spicy snack of India. Just as the name says, the snack mixture is a mix of various snacks like omapodi, kaara boonthi, nuts, spices etc.
The North Indian namkeen mixtures are made with thin sev and we can see this trend in Chennai mixture too. Most of those namkeens contain a hint of sweetness.  But there is one more mixture variety from my native place, which may not be much popular, but I like it very much. I have seen this kind of mixture in Kerala too. This mixture should be made with thick sev and the spice level should be high. We call it as 'Thisayanvilai mixture'. One of our good relatives, AnnaPazham paatti used to buy this for us. This mixture would be packed in palm leaf containers (olai petti) and that adds more glamour to it.
I tried to create it at home and it turned out to be a great success. Should I say hubby dear and me enjoyed this mixture throughout that weekend with tea!

Tamilnadu's village style mixture

Omapodi and kaara poonthi 

plantain chips

soaked channa dal

frying the channa dal

fried peanut, curry leaf, channa dal

Every goodness in one bowl together, the MIXTURE

After mixing the snacks together...

Fruit of my work ♥ Mixture stored in airtight container.....for snack time !

Ingredients:
Omapodi (thick sev) - 1/4 kg  (or) crushed - 2 cups
kara boondi - 1/4 kg (or) 2 cups
banana chips - from one plantain  (or) 100 gms
peanut  (ver kadalai)- 1 cup (or) fried masala peanut - 1 cup
channa dal (kadalai paruppu) - 1/2 cup
murukku -  1 or 2 (optional)
curry leaf - few
garlic - 4 cloves
red chili powder -  1 tbsp
hing - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste
oil - for deep frying

Method:
1.Prepare the omapodi, boondi, chips ahead. I suggest making them a day ahead. Buying them from store is also a good option. Gently crush the omapodi into medium size pieces.
Put them all together in a wide mixing bowl.
2.Soak the channa dal for 4 to 5 hours. Drain water. Pat dry in a fresh kitchen towel. Let it dry in room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat oil to deep fry in a wok. Deep fry the channa dal.
Add this to the bowl.
3. Fry the masala peanuts. My recipe would be for baking, but use the same ingredients and deep fry them for mixture. Put this with other items in the bowl. We can simply fry the peanuts too (like me).  If we add masala peanuts, then it gets the touch of kovilpatti mixture.
4. In the same hot wok, fry a handful of curry leaves to crispy. Put that to the mixing bowl.
5. Peel and crush coarsely few cloves of garlic. Fry till crispy. Add to the bowl.
6. Now add some crushed murukku to the bowl.
7. Then add chili powder, hing , salt to all those items in the mixing bowl. Mix well using a spatula or hands. Check and add salt little by little as many already contain salt.
8.Let cool and store in air tight containers.
Village style mixture is ready !

Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack with coffee or tea.
In my house, we enjoy this with sambar rice too.

Note:
*The difficult to make ingredients like sev (omapodi), kara poonthi, chips, fried peanut can be bought as readymade from any Indian grocery store and this snack can be made in a jiffy.