A pleasant award and an event entry.

Last week my friend Jaleela of Samayal Attakasangal presented me a blogger appreciation award.
It is so touching to receive this award from a noble blogger like her. She has a stunning blog filled with knowledge and tips on house administration and cooking.
Should I tell more on a blogger with 20 years of cooking experience ? The photos itself will speak for the flavor and taste of her dishes.
I adore her biryani recipe , nonbu kanji and house keeping tips (especially the chudithar stitching tips) very much. She is so pious and We can learn a lot on Islam from her other blog too. Her blog has a very homely touch and I really felt at home there.


Thanks Jaleela!
This award means a lot to me and I feel honored to get it from a very pleasant person like you.



I would like to pass this 'Smart chef' award to Jaleela. Congrats dear!

Event:
In my last post I wrote how to make an Icecream cake and here is how we should not. You can read my adventures and mishaps about an Icecream cake in this post, which I am sending for Malar's Kitchen Mishaps event. I usually do not photograph my spoiled dishes. So I could not send her a snap, but here is the story behind.
If you want to see my perfect recipe, click here.



I am a person who believes in the proverb 'Failure is the stepping stone to success'.
Here I am narrating how I climbed my stepping stones to land at this delicious ice cream cake. After that heavy turkey biryani on Thanks giving day , a scoop of this cake made me tell ....wow... Worth the effort !

The plan:
Last month I planned to prepare an Icecream cake for our Thanks giving celebration.
Hubby was pestering me to do this for an year and somehow I got some courage to try this time consuming cake.

Adventure:
The major problem I dealt was with the melting time of the ice cream and my frosting speed. You all know , I am not a professional baker, so my skills on frosting (according to me frosting means - apply cream on cake) the cake was so limited.

My 3 layers were very perfect. So I was kind of floating ....guess what happens now:)

Havoc:
I had the guidance of a website, which told me to take out the ice cream to melt before we start applying. I had it on my counter top, finished dinner and even did my dishes and started the icing process....hi hi..what could you expect! Mindless viki poured all the ice cream over the cake just like a heavy cream and stashed it in to the freezer. After all my bed-going rituals, when I opened it there was a huge shock....all the ice cream I poured and leveled were on the freezer floor....myself started panicking:(

Plan B:
Then I somehow made up my mind ....started doing the research. Took out the cake, kept it in fridge area, cleaned the freezer and again kept it in freezer.
Now I figured out that the website didn't tell me the timing to freeze it.

Luckily I started doing this experimentation by Monday....3 more days left for Thanks giving day. So I used another pack of ice cream and finished doing it by Tuesday.

Lesson learned:
1.Always have some back up plan and extra groceries if you plan a new recipe.
2.Start preparing the time consuming dishes very ahead.
3.Stick to the recipe and be sensible if we follow any newer dish.

Hope this suits the event. Happy hosting dear!

Ice cream Cake

In my home town there is a very beautiful ice cream parlor called 'Arasan ice cream'. It is famous for its Ice cream , chocolate cakes, falooda, Ice-cream cakes and desserts. The interiors are so cool and creative. No need to say it is always crowded by youngsters and couples. It is my most favorite spot even now and we have tasted almost all the varieties there:)
Whenever I talk about those lovely days, hubby has always expressed his craving for this icecream cake. So I planned to do it for our Thanks giving party (2009).

I could not get a complete procedure through internet. I coined my own version and had some challenges like the melting ice cream and timing sense etc:) But I managed to get a perfect one and we finally got our native style ice cream cake.

Icecream cakes can be made in two ways. One by crushing the cookies and pressing them to form a cake and top it with ice cream . The next method is to bake a cake and freeze it with ice cream

Mine belongs to the second variety.

I always prefer to incorporate some store bought goodies to reduce my cooking time. So if you are looking for one from scratch , then you need to research more. But I am sure this recipe won't disappoint you . Here is the ice cream cake and get ready to surprise your guests with this delicious cake.

Ice cream cake:




Ice cream cake served:



(Pardon me for my unprofessional icing)


You may need:
Ice cream (French vanilla flavor) - 1 liter.
A cake mix (white cake mix) - 1 packet
(I used Betty crocker super moist white cake mix )
Cake frosting mix - 15 oz tin
(I used Pillsburry funfetti frosting mix)
A fruit jam - 1 cup
(I made my own strawberry preserve)
A flat plate
Sharp knife.

To prepare strawberry spread:
Strawberry - 10
Sugar - 1/4 cup

Chop the strawberry and cook it with 2 tbsp water and sugar till it gets a preserve like consistency.
Cool and store it in refrigerator.
(We can use a store bought preserve also).

Cake frosting Method:
Bake two square shape cakes from the above said cake mix, as per instructions in your box.

Cool them completely. Keep them in refrigerator overnight for better cooling effect.

Level the cake with a sharp knife by removing the dark surface.

Slice each cake into two , so that we can stack up the icecream, frosting and strawberry preserve as layers.

Now place one slice of the cake on a flat plate. Spread the cake frosting mix.

Take out the ice cream from freezer and spread 3 scoops over the frosting mix.
Immediately keep the ice cream inside freezer.

Place another slice of cake over it. Spread the Strawberry jam we made uniformly.

Place another slice of cake over the strawberry spread.
Now spread the frosting mix and ice cream above this slice.

Finish all the above procedure within three minutes. This is very very important.

Immediately place the next slice above it and keep in freezer for nearly an hour.

Then take it again do cover the top of the cake completely with cream frosting mixture.
Again let it cool for another 15 minutes inside the freezer.

Now take out the cake and icecream , carefully cover the whole cake with ice cream....starting from the bottom sides.

If you feel it is melting then cool it inside freezer for 10 minutes and finish it.

After 5 hours sprinke the sugar balls or decorate as per the need.

Ice cream cake is ready!

Note:
This procedure may seem very difficult. But if you imagine layering a sandwich then it will be an easy breeze.

Always keep the ice cream in side the fridge before we start decorating the cake.
During frosting process, for every 3 minutes outside keep the cake and icecream inside the freezer for 10 minutes and continue decoration. Otherwise everything will melt down and we may need to recreate.

Event:
Sending this Ice cream cake for Saraswathy Iyer's cakes n cookies event.
Saraswathy has completed 3 years in blogging and celebrating an anniversary through this beautiful event.
Congrats saraswathy!Your blog really rocks! You have so many unique recipes and I love them very much. Your delicious wheat dosa has helped me much in the diet plan.
Thanks and happy hosting dear!

My other entries are as follows:-

1. Butter biscuit

2.Christmas plum cake.

3.Easter bunny's carrot cake

4.Frosted sugar cookies.

Beautiful awards.....

Last week I got a beautiful award from Vinolia of Akal's Saapadu. I know, I know...our Vino doesn't need an intro'. She is known for her explicit recipes ,helpful for even a novice to master the art of cooking. I love her desserts, especially the western style ones made with the perfection of a professional and the vast variety of non veggies too.



I feel so honored to receive this award from an expert like her. Thank you dear!

Another cute award is from Malar of Kitchen Tantra. We all know Malar is a great blogger with a flair to cook authentic foods with rich quality. Her Non veg foods are noteworthy. I am sure her cooking classes are in great demand for the royal Moghal cuisines . Don't miss her wise anecdotes as they will enlighten us with the history and the medicinal secrets behind the food.



Thanks Malar. I feel so glad to get this from a knowledgeable person like you!

Kadappa

Kadappa is the traditional side dish for Poori or Idly, dosai in Tanjore of TamilNadu, India.

As the theme of this blog is to remember my mom's passion for cooking, I am narrating here how she got this recipe. Long back, as a newly married couple mom and dad visited her sister's family in Tanjore. And there she had this kadappa with poori and dosa in a restaurant. Then she searched for the recipe through cook-books and finally arrived at this one. After that it has become our favorite too.

This dish resembles a kuruma like gravy with dhal as a base. Turmeric and tomato are not generally added, as the primary color of the kadappa should be white / beige. So easy to prepare and great to enjoy for a special weekend:)



Ingredients:
Potato - 4
green gram dhal (paasi paruppu / chiru paruppu) - 1/4 cup
Red onion - 1
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
oil - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
lemon - 1/2

Masala - 1
puffed channa dhal (pottu kadalai) - 1 tbsp
poppy seed - 1/2 tsp
green chilly - 6
cinnamon - 1 inch
cloves (kirambu) - 2
fennel seed (sombu) - 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup

Masala -2
ginger - 1 inch
garlic - 5 pearls

Method:
Wash the potatoes well. Pressure cook the potatoes and green gram dhal for 2 whistles.
Peel and chop potato into small cubes.
Slice the onion into small pieces.

Heat oil in a wok and splutter the mustard seed. Then add bay leaves.

Now goes the chopped onion. Fry till it becomes tender. Then add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell vanishes.
Then add the cubed potatoes and green gram dhal.

Grind the items given under masala 1 and add it to the potatoes in wok.

Add salt and let it boil for five minutes.

After switching off , add the lime juice and serve hot.

Kadappa is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve with dosa or poori / roti /idly / chapathi.

Note :
1.we can prepare it without tempering also.

2.Pressure cook raw, chopped potato with green gram and all masalas including ginger garlic together. Then temper after it gets cooked. Add lime juice at the end. This is the short cut method.

Rasgulla

Rasgulla / Rosgulla is a famous Indian Bengali sweet. It is usually served as dessert along with some jeera (syrup).
It is my hubby's top pick whenever we visit some Bengali sweet shop. So I prepare this often in small batches before he starts craving :)

There are two ways to make the rasgulla. The authentic version is to slow cook in a half closed pan and the modern type is to pressure cook it.
I am used to the authentic one, which my mom taught. I feel it as more safer to make soft rasgullas. My mom's recipe note book would emphasize the usage of lemon instead of vinegar and rose essence instead of cardamom. I followed her way completely and got the best result.

Here comes the well known recipe.

Chenna after straining:


Rasagulla soaked in sugar syrup:


Ingredients:
Milk (full fat) - 1 litre (5 cups)
AP flour (maida) - 2 tsp
Lemon - 1
(or)vinegar - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Rose essence - 3 drops
(or)cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Boil milk in a vessel.
Squeeze the lemon and mix 1/2 cup water to the juice.
Add the lemon juice / vinegar to the boiling milk and stir slowly.
Put off heat.
Now the milk gets curdled to form paneer (a cheese variety).

(Chenna preparation is beautifully explained by Vinolia. So just click to see if you need more clarity.)

Place a cheese cloth / new white cloth over the strainer and pour the curdled milk.
Pour some cold water to remove the lemon's sourness.
Squeeze out all the water and make a bundle using the cloth. Place it on the strainer or hang over a kitchen sink to loose all the water content.
Let it remain in this position for 45 mins to 2 hours , depending upon the quantity.

The hard cheese we get is called chenna. We can buy it in Indian grocery stores also.

Now knead the chenna to make a smooth dough. Add flour and knead again.

Make small balls of equal size of 1.5 cm diameter approximately and keep aside.

In another vessel mix sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to boil.

Once it starts boiling add the chenna balls and cook covered for 30 minutes (with lid partially open).

The rasagulla will become double the size.

Drop one ball in cold water and if it sinks to the bottom , then it is cooked well.
If not so , then cook for another 5 minutes.

Switch off flame and add rose essence / cardamom powder.

Rasgulla is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve chilled as dessert.
The above said quantity is enough to make 15 - 20 rasgullas.

Tips:
Apply some ghee and roll the rasgulla balls , as the cracked ones may disintegrate quickly.
some people prefer pressure cooking the rasgulla instead of my pan method.
We can add 1/2 the quantity of sugar and some Zero calorie sweetener to get a more healthier version too.

Advent season, an award and some reposts.

Anu Ramesh of Anu's Kitchen has presented me the below award. Before that I would like to mention here a few things about this wonderful budding blogger. Anu has a lovely collection of recipes along with adorable pictures. Moreover she has the spirit to appreciate and encourage others. I am so glad that she passed me this inspiring award.


Thanks Anu, I feel honored.

Smart Chef award:
Now I am wondering...OMG ! people are showering me with love and how should I reciprocate!
I can't think of anything else but a group hug and to create an award:)
I am sure everyone who loves to cook surely deserves this award.



Actually I wanted to present this cute award to all of my friends and to all those who love to cook. But now I am crowning a very few of my friends.

Anu of Anu's Kitchen
Ann , my friend.
Gita of Gita's kitchen.
Malar of Kitchen Tantra.
Sanghi of Sanghis food delight.
Sumathy of Sumi's kitchen.
Vino of Akal's saapadu
Vineela of Vineela Siva
Usha of Ushanandhini's recipes.

Please accept this well deserved award my friends! You can pass this to as many as you wish.

Re-post:

I am reposting the following recipes for Sanghi's FIL-Fruits event. Happy hosting and Best wishes dear.


Mixed fruit jam.

Apple rasam

Pineapple rasam

Vaazhai Pazha paniyaram

Tomato sweet

Christmas plum cake

Panchamirtham

Apple pie

Cranberry sauce


Christmas is around the corner and it is the advent season too . Advent means a time of preparation, just like the Mother Mary and St.Joseph got prepared for the arrival of Jesus. It is the time of expectation, anxiety and cleanliness.
Let's look around for the needy people in our neighborhood and help them .

Thanks and Happy blogging friends!
Cheers,
Viki.

Mixed fruit jam (natural)

Some days back I had some fruits left behind while making a salad. Hated to leave all those cuties loose their color and simply chill in the refrigerator. How about a JAM...just like my homeland's kissan mixed fruit jam. I am sure no other jam in the world can charm me like this old fashioned Indian kissan jam. I am obsessed with that jam, but still wanted to do it.

The ingredient to get a perfect glossy jam is the pectin (available in stores in powder form). The problem was , I couldn't get the preservatives and gel bases at that late hour. Some thing sparked me....why shouldn't I make my own pectin? Then I searched for the natural pectin sources and to my surprise it can be an apple or any citus fruit. I just crushed an apple along with 1/2 a can of pineapple and got my base.

So here is a jam without any artificial preservative or store bought pectin. This one will resemble that kissan mixed fruit jam, but still I love that store bought one also very much:) Anyways I got 2 bottles of jam and a lot of satisfaction too. Hope you all like it.





Ingredients:
(Any combination of fruit 3 cups)
Raspberry - 1/2 cup
pomegranate - 1/2 cup
pear - 1 cup
seedless grapes - 10
apple - 1 (1 cup) ......(MUST)
(The natural pectin in the apple is used as a base to make the jam)
pineapple - 1/2 can (1 cup)
water - 1/2 cup
sugar - 3/4 cup

Method:
Bring water to boil along with raspberry , pomegranate or any small fruit of your choice. Mash gently with a ladle.
Coarsely grind the fruit chunks like apple , pear and pineapple together.
Mix all the fruits , sugar and cook till the jam gets a thick consistency.

It will thicken perfectly in about 20 minutes. So keep stirring occasionally in low flame.

Mixed fruit jam is ready.

Store in dry container and keep refrigerated.

Serving suggestions:
Wash the glass bottle (or any container) with hot water and dry completely before filling. I dried it overnight:)
Let the jam cool completely and stock them up.
Great to go with breads or yogurt, cake or ice cream topping.