Ginger bread cookies

Baking the 'Ginger bread cookies' during Christmas time is a traditional baking activity in US. I was looking for a spicy ginger bread man cookies and got this in food network website. Thanks to the author, I made spicy delicious cookies for this Christmas and we enjoyed it very much. I have added some black pepper powder also, as per my knowledge and it turned out very good. We got 10 big size ginger bread people, 25 small gingerbread couples and a house. Approximately it can yield 45 small gingerbread people. Here is my video on this recipe. If you like the video, kindly subscribe and encourage me. Thank you !

2 D Gingerbread house cookie along with sugar cookies I made for Christmas.

Ingredients and directions:
Butter - 1 1/2 stick
Dark brown sugar - 1 cup
sugar - 2/3 cup
orange zest - from 1 fruit
Bring butter to room temperature by keeping it out of fridge for 6 hours. Mix the above well. Keep aside.

Egg - 2
molasses - 1/2 cup
lemon - 1/2 fruit
Beat the eggs and mix with molasses, lemon juice. Add this to the above liquid and keep aside.

Spices:
Dry ginger powder - 1 tbsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
nutmeg - 1/20 of a nut (powdered)
All spice powder - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon powder - 1 1/2 tsp
cloves - 5 (powdered)
Powder the spices together and keep in freezer till we need. (I use immediately).

Dry ingredients:
All purpose flour - 4 cup
baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
salt - 1 tsp
Sift together AP flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder twice.

Add the gingerbread cookie spice powder and  dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. I mix with hands just like chapati dough. Cover with a cling wrap and keep refrigerated (for 2 hours or up to 1 week, as per need). Refrigerating the cookie dough makes it hard enough to roll and cut shapes.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Dust a rolling board with AP flour and start rolling the cookies up to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, take out carefully using a spatula and let cool on cooling wires. Store in air tight containers.

Gingerbread cookies is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Makes an yummy snack along with coffee / tea.

Athirasam

I made this adhirasam (Indian donuts) for this year Christmas. After posting a version of adirasam using store bought rice flour I wanted to make this traditional adirasam and it came out successfully. Adhirasam is an Indian dessert or snack. It is a very common snack prepared in villages of Tamilnadu. Preparing perfect athirasam depends on the expertise on making the perfect jaggery solution (vella pagu). I have measured everything in gms, using my kitchen scale. As getting a 1/2 kg jaggery pack is easier,I add sugar and make up the other ingredients based on that (otherwise rice and jaggery should be of equal weight). I used the Adora basmati rice we get here. I got my adhirasam batter a little runny, so I added maida (AP flour) till it became little thick. If we are using Indian raw rice (pacharisi) , then there won't be any need to add maida flour. Here is my recipe for the 'Tamilnadu sweet adhirasam'.
Recipe source: I have seen my mom making this along with a maid during festivals.  Now I did this with my Mother-in law's tips on making the perfect adhirasam batter. Adding maida is her tips and it works out perfectly for me. 

Awaiting Baby Jesus....Athirasam for Holy Family.

Athirasam batter.

Ingredients:
Raw rice - 600 gm
jaggery - 500 gm
water - 3/4 cup
white sugar - 3 tbsp
dry ginger powder - 1 tbsp
sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
cardamom powder - 1 tsp
poppy seed (kasakasa) - 1 tbsp
All purpose flour - (if needed)
oil to deep fry
ghee - few tsp

Method:
Rinse the rice. Soak the rice in water for 1 hour.   Drain water completely and spread it on a clean dry paper towel or cloth.  Let it dry for 2 hours. Powder the rice in mixie (little by little) to a very fine stage. Sieve if needed.

In the meantime prepare the jaggery solution. Crush the jaggery into small pieces. Put sugar and jaggery in a vessel, add 3/4 cup water and heat till the jaggery dissolves. Continue heating till we see bubbles and one string consistency. (the jaggery solution when poured from the spatula should fall like a single line at the end.).  Check: Take water in a small cup and pour this jaggery now, it should fall as a drop, but will dissolve soon. we will not be able to roll it into a ball. This is the stage for making soft athirasam. Immediately switch off.

Don't go for uruttu patham (update 2014): if it became soft ball or uruttu patham, then add 1/4 cup water and heat and bring back. {Soft ball consistency. (Soft ball consistency - uruttu patham : If we drop 1/2 a tsp of jaggery solution in cold water, it should not dissolve. We should be able to roll that into a soft ball). (or do this step using a candy thermometer - candy stage temp).}

To the powdered rice, add cardamom powder, sesame, kasakasa, dry ginger powder, jaggery solution. Add the jaggery solution little by little , leaving behind the sediments. Mix well. Add the entire solution if possible (the adirasam should be as sweet as possible) and the batter should be like chapati dough but more sticky, little runny and soft to touch.

Add 3 tbsp milk to this and knead again. This gives soft athirasam. (updated 2014)

 If the dough is more runny like idly batter, add maida flour and give it more thickness. (It is a good idea to prepare a cup of extra rice flour separately to mix with the runny batter). For test run, fry one adirasam immediately and check if tastes / looks good.

Then cover the batter with a cling wrap or clean cloth and let it soak for 3 days. On the third day heat oil in a broad frying pan. Wait till it gets really hot. Reduce to medium flame. Take a plastic sheet, apply some ghee in our hands and on the sheet. Take a small lime size adhirasam batter , flatten it smoothly. Make a small hole in center (for South Tamilnadu adirasam) or just without hole (for Madras Athirasam). Deep fry in low to medium heat. Flip and fry the other side too. Fry the adirasam in small batches and give more time to cook in low heat.

Take out using two spatulas, one to hold the adirasam and another to press and drain oil. Keep in paper towels, let cool and store in airtight containers. It gets softer and tastes good after a few hours.

Adirasam is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as snack with tea / coffee and murukku.
Makes a traditional Indian dessert.

Merry Christmas,

A beautiful Christmas greetings made by Ishaan.

Have a look inside.... Thank u Ishaan. You are adorable!

A cute handmade Christmas greetings presented by my cousin Madhu.

Love you Madhu...you are always our sweet little cousin sister. Thanks Madhu.

Thanks to Regi and RJ.Your gift is very beautiful too.

Birthday cake for Baby Jesus. I made this icing along with my cousin Madhu.

Snacks for Santa and vegetables for Reindeer...a Christmas tradition.

Rose Christmas tree...I bought from a neighbor's garage sale. I like this cute little tree also very much.

Santa and reindeer in our house....lights and decorations for Christmas.

Christmas Village

Nativity scene and Christmas Village

Nativity scene

Our Christmas tree... our happiness.

Wishing all my friends and readers a  Blessed Happy Christmas,
May all our dreams come true.
Merry Christmas! Love, Viki

Pumpkin cupcake (Vegetarian)

Sometime ago, I made some pumpkin puree at home and stocked them up in freezer. Then one day I baked some cupcakes out of it and it was totally yummy. 

I got the recipe from this website. Thanks to the author I could bake some scrupmtious pumpkin cupcakes. That recipe is purely vegan, but I have used milk products in my recipe. This recipe can yield 12 standard cupcakes. I made my own 'homemade pumkpin puree' with the pumpkins I got. Pureeing the pumpkin is very simple. Just cut the pumpkin into half, bake it at 350 deg F for 40 min or till soft. Scoop out the baked pumpkin, let cool, puree in mixer, store in freezer. Stays good upto 3 months. I meaured the puree and noted down in every sachet for further use. (Substitute for store bought pumpkin puree - Fresh pumpkin can be boiled / pressure cooked completely and pureed).

The icing is optional. I used some of my cream cheese frosting at hand and it tasted absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup
pumpkin puree - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
vinegar / lemon juice - 1 tsp
baking powder - 1 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
brown sugar - 1/3 cup
white sugar - 1/3 cup
cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
corn / olive oil / butter - 1/2 cup
vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Arrange the cupcake paper liners in the bake-ware. Keep aside.

Mix together milk and vinegar and let it rest for 5 minutes. (we can use plain yogurt instead of this step).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda. Sift this twice to get a spongy cake.
Put this flour in a mixing bowl and add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer or another mixing bowl thoroughly mix together sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla and milk mixture.
Pour this to the sifter flour mix well using a fork / beater.
Pour this into cupcake liners upto 3/4 th height and bake for 16 - 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes clean.
Take out, cool completely before frosting. Tastes good with / without frosting.


Serving suggestion:
Makes a dessert or breakfast.

Event entry and reposts

Divya Pramil of  'You too can cook'  and Priya of 'Cook like Priya' are hosting an event for Christmas. Here are my entries for their fabulous event. Happy hosting friends!

I am sending the following entries to Divya's 60 days to Christmas Event.

1. Indian whole chicken fry

 2. Hyderabad chicken briyani

 Hyderabadi Chicken biryani in vibrant coloration.

The following entries are for Priya's 60 days to Christmas Event.
1. Christmas fruit cake

2. Carrot cake

Cranberry pickle

Cranberries are abundant during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Making a sweet sauce with cranberry is traditional here. I always make spicy pickle with cranberries and it tastes exactly the same as mango pickle (YES!). Xav likes it very much and I try to keep this in fridge during season. Last month I bought 2 packs of cranberries from Aldi, pickled them and stored in fridge. It is always cheerful to see him choosing from one of my homemade pickles:) Hope you all enjoy this pickle too!

Cranberry pickle in a jar.

Ingredients:
Cranberry - 1/2 lb
corn or Sesame oil - 1/2 cup
(we can reduce the oil , if we are refrigerating the pickle)
Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
fenugreek (methi / venthayam) - 1 tsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
hing (asafoetida) - 1/8 tsp
sea salt - to taste (approx 1.5 tbsp)
white vinegar - 2 tbsp

Method:
Wash and clean the cranberries. Wipe with a clean cloth and dry it in open air to remove any moisture for an hour or more (overnight).
Heat the above said quantity of sesame oil (any cooking oil) in a kadai (wok). Add the mustard seeds and let them start to crackle. At the same time add hing , fenugreek seeds and wait till it gets red. Immediately add the cranberries and  saute till they starts cracking. Cranberry will get thick and mushy now. Add salt.
When the oil starts showing off the edges, add the red chilly powder and stir well till the raw smell of red chilly powder goes.  Mix vinegar.
Switch off the flame and let the pickle get cool. Store in glass bottles.
Cranberry pickle is ready! Keep it refrigerated.


Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with curd rice.
We can  mix some of this pickle with white rice to prepare a quick cranberry rice for lunch pack.

Black bean chilli

Black bean is one of my favorite beans. We can make numerous dishes using this. Though it is not a common one in India, one can compare its taste with a mixture of rajma (red kidney beans) and black gram.Chillie or chili is a dish resembling a thick lentil soup. It can be had along with tortilla chips as a dip or bread rolls.  Here I have used dried black beans. I always buy a pack of dry beans, soak and pressure cook them, keep them frozen in small portions till I need. Though buying canned beans is easier, I like my method better. Anyways both tastes good. Try this chili on a cold winter day and you are gonna love it!

Ingredients:
Black bean (dry) - 1 cup
water - 3 cups
onion - 1
garlic - 4 cloves
green chilly - 1
celery stem - 1
tomato puree - 1/2 cup
red chilly powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
salt
butter - 1 tbsp
Italian seasoning (dry) - 1 tsp
lemon - 1/8

Method:
Soak the beans overnight. Discard the soaked water (must).
Add 3 times water. Pressure cook for 5 minutes in medium heat after a whistle. (or cook in stove top for 1 hour / till tender).

Heat butter in a vessel. Add finely chopped onion, garlic and stir till onion turns soft.
Then add the chopped celery, green chilly and saute for a minute.
Then add the cooked beans, tomato puree, red chilly powder, cumin powder, salt and cook covered for 10 minutes. After switching off sprinkle dried Italian seasoning, lemon juice, pepper powder.

Chile is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with bread or tortilla chips.

Tips:
Adding minced meat in this recipe is also common.