Escarole and bean Soup

Winter always inspires me to try out new Soups . The wintry cold, the snow and the shorter days just makes me a couch potato, enjoying the fireplace and watching movies or reading. So Soups are really your best choice, as they are quick, easy, healthy and one pot meals. What more can one ask for. So for those lazy days, this is a good recipe.

Also when I go grocery shopping and if I see a new vegetable or fruit. I'm always excited to try it out. So this escarole was bought by the intention of making soup out of it. It was sitting there in my fridge for couple days feeling sad, and I was feeling guilty that I did not use it sooner. So today was the day since it snowed this morning, and this is the soup we had for lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Escarole chopped
• 2 cups red kidney beans cooked
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic finely sliced
• 1 cup tomatoes chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• salt to taste

Preparation :

1. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan and saute onions and garlic, until you no longer get the raw smell of onion/garlic.
2. Add the tomatoes and fry for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the chopped Escarole and fry until they reduce in size and wilt.

4. Add the precooked red kidney beans and season it with salt and red chilli flakes. Add the vegetable stock and water and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Soup is ready to serve . Serve with garlic bread or any Italian Bread.

Award time- Kreativ Blogger Award.

My dear blogger friend, Mausi from 7th Kitchen ~ Everyday Food Blog awarded me this Kreative Blogger Award. Thank you so much for this 1st award of 2010. I'm really honoured and humbled by this award.

So here is how it works.

Rules for accepting this award:
1) Thank the person giving the award
2) Copy the award to your blog
3) Place a link to their blog
4) Name 7 things people don't know about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers
6) Place a link to those bloggers
7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

7 things people don't know about me.

1. I believe in Karma, What goes around comes around.
2. My Blood group is b+ and so is my Motto in Life ,"BE POSITIVE".

3. I'm a bathroom Singer (since I'm not blessed with a singing voice.)
4. I love to watch comedy shows and funny movies and love having people around me who can make me laugh.

5. I'm a daydreamer.
6. I talk a lot and speak super fast.

7. I love hiking and camping.

I have to pass this award to my 7 favorite blogs :

Believe me this was the most difficult part. Its hard to choose from such a vast array of blogs with such beautiful and wonderful recipes. Every one has its own identity, its own fingerprint If I may say. So how could I select just 7 blogs. They are all my favorites. I came up with a foolproof way of picking. I did not want anybody to feel bad, so I had my 2 yr old son pick up names from a bowl full of all the names of my very supportive followers.

Here are the 7 favorite blogs picked... Drum rolls please...

And the Kreativ Blogger Award goes to..... (This feels like I'm at the Oscars...)

1. Sarah Naveen at Vazhayila
2. Shanthi at Shanthi Krishnakumar's Cook Book
3. Vinolia at Akal's Saappadu
4. Alicia at Vegan Epicurean
5. Shahana Baker at Me N My Apron
6. Priya at Priyas Recipes
7. Padhu at Welcome to Padhu's kitchen

The others are not going empty handed, a very special award coming to you soon..... (I'm curious to design my own award I could hand it out to my fellow bloggers. So shd hopefully be here in a day or two.)

Cranberry Ginger Pilaf

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Basmati Rice
• 1 cup fresh Cranberries
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger cut into julienne
• 3 green chillies slit and cut lengthwise
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground red chilli
• 1 tsp ground cumin-coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6-7 peppercorns
• 1 -2 bay leaf
• 1-2 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 black cardamom(badi elaichi)
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 4 cups water

***You could adjust the quantity of ginger depending on your taste. Personally, I feel the flavors of cranberrries and ginger go very well together. Also you could tell, my love for ginger.

Preparation :

1. Wash and Soak 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of water. You will not need to add anymore water to make the pilaf. Just use this rice with the water. Keep this aside for around 15-20 minutes
2. Now heat some oil in a pan . Now once the oil has warmed up add Cumin seeds. When they splutter, add peppercorns, bay leaf, Cardamom and cinnamon sticks.
3. Add the freshly chopped ginger. Fry for about a minute.
4. Keep the heat on low flame and add the green chillies and the cranberries. The cranberries will begin to pop, so be careful. After about half a minute, add turmeric, salt, red chilli, cumin/coriander powder. Then add the rice with the water which we had kept aside earlier.
5. Let this cook uncovered on medium flame. Now when you see that most of the water has dried up (like 85-90%) set the stove to the lowest flame and cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes
6. Its ready to serve. You could Serve this Cranberry Pilaf with Pineapple Raita.(The Tartness of the Cranberries could be reduced by the sweetness of the Pineapple Raita .)

Cornmeal Strawberry Pancake

Cornmeal Strawberry pancake

This is my kids favorite breakfast. Since its so easy to make, its become my favorite too. Also you could use any fruits in this recipe. Great way to make our kids eat fruits.

According to our good friend Wikipedia, A pancake is a thin, flat cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Read more about pancake here.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup yellow corn meal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1 egg , lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup diced strawberries
• 4-5 Sliced Strawberries for Garnishing
  

Preparation :

1. Combine all the dry ingredients(1st 5 ingredients) in a bowl.
2. Add the beaten egg and butter and mix well, followed by milk. Stir till smooth.
3. Gently fold in the diced strawberries.
4. Pour about 1/4 cup pancake batter onto a hot nonstick skillet. Soon when you see bubbles on the top and the edges look cooked, turn the pancake. Let it cook for about a minute or so until its cooked. (Since I have used cornmeal in this recipe. I let it cook a little more so its cooked properly).
5. Serve with Maple syrup and butter with Sliced Strawberries on the side.
6. This recipe makes 4-5 pancakes.

Indian Plum Cake - Kerala Plum Cake

Wish you all a happy New Year and happy blogging.

Plum Cake is our favorite cake and so thought it would be an appropriate 1st post of 2010. I don't think Plum cakes need any introduction anyways. Everybody I assume knows of this delectable delight. They are huge during Christmas and New year's Eve in India. We had such great bakeries back home and always bought it and had some friends who baked these sweet nutty delights. After coming to the US when you crave for these Indian Plum cakes I had to bake it at home and since then have fallen in love with the home baked soaked in rum cakes.

This time I have tried a new recipe from my friend Sangeetha's blog. She has a wonderful collection of recipes and her awesome presentation and step by step instructions make it so easy to follow her recipes. You could check out her recipe here. I have used the recipe as is, I did not want to mess it up. NoBody messes with the PLum cake.( I must admit though at times I'm tempted to tweak the recipe a bit). Another reason being, I had promised to get this great cake for the New year's eve party hosted by one our friends and so I baked this cake exactly as per Sangeetha's recipe which was a big hit. They all loved this plum cake and it was their first time they had tasted our Indian Plum cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All purpose flour
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 3/4 Butter at room temperature
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Tutti Frutti
• 1/4 cup Raisins
• 1/4 cup Cashew nuts (chopped)
• 1/4 cup Almonds and Walnuts (chopped)
• 1/4 cup Dates (chopped)
• 1 cup Rum/wine or enough to soak the fruit

To prepare the Caramel syrup:

• 1/2 cup Granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon water (to soak the sugar for the caramel)
• 1/2 cup Water ( to prepare the caramel syrup once the sugar has been caramalized)

To prepare the Spice Mixture :

• 1 tsp Caraway seeds
• 1/4 tsp Powdered Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Powdered Nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp powdered Ginger
• 1/4 tsp powdered Cloves
  

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degree C and prepare a 9 inch cake pan by greasing it or line with parchment paper.

2. This step you would do ahead of time ( 2 months to a week) before you bake this cake. Soak the dry fruits in rum/wine and keep it in a bottle at room temperature. Shake the jar once in a while. Now you guessed it right , the longer they are all allowed to soak, the more intense the flavor. (So let them get happy in there... after all they are getting ready to party for New year's eve.. ). See I was enjoying myself so much with the holidays I just had enough time to soak them in rum for a day.

3. Now we will prepare the Caramel Syrup. Heat a heavy bottomed vessel and add sugar with 1 tbsp of water on medium high heat. The sugar will begin to melt and soon you will see it changing its color as well. Its recommended to Not Stir, but you could swirl the vessel, once or twice. Turn off the heat once you get a darker golden brown color. Immediately, pour half a cup of water very carefully into the caramel and stir and mix well. Caution :(Be Very Careful, the liquid will splash when you pour the water into the hot caramel). Let the caramel cool before adding to the cake batter.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder and keep aside.

5. Now we'll Separate egg yolks from the whites. Whisk egg yolks with vanilla.

6. Cream butter and sugar till creamy and combined well.

7. Next add the egg yolk and vanilla mixture little at a time, alternating with a little (about 1 tablespoon) of the sieved flour and combine till smooth.

8. Now add 1/2 cup caramel syrup and spice mixture and beat thoroughly till well combined.

9. Next add the remaining flour, slowly and gently fold in with a wooden spoon.

10. Drain the soaked fruits and add them to the batter and mix well again.

11.Whisk egg whites till it forms peaks and gently fold into the cake batter till well combined.

12. Now pour this batter into the prepared cake pan, filling it till half the pan.

13. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the caket comes out clean.

14. Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and invert them onto wire rack and let it cool completely.

Voila , Your cake is ready to Party...

Bunuelos - Mini Doughnuts

Bunuelos look like little miniature doughnuts and make excellent little munching snacks which could be served along with tea, coffee or hot chocolate . These are not that sweet but sweet enough. These resemble our old fashioned doughnuts. This recipe is from a book, " Mexican - healthy ways with a favorite cuisine" by Jane Milton. I had plans to make these for quite some time and with this holiday season I got a perfect opportunity to make these.

On this Sweet Note, Wishing Every one a happy, healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Ingredients :

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground anise
• oil for deep- frying
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• cinnamon sticks to decorate

Preparation :

1. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and ground anise into a mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar. ( If you wish you could add 2 more tablespoons of sugar at this point).
2. Place the egg and milk in a bowl and whisk it well. Melt the butter.
3. Pour the egg and milk mixture gradually into the flour and stir constantly until well blended. Now add the melted butter. Mix well to make a soft dough.
4. Knead this dough for about 10 minutes until smooth.
5. Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll into balls. Slightly flatten each ball with your hand. Then with a floured handle of a wooden spoon, make a hole in the center of the ball.
6. Heat the oil for deep -frying. Heat the oil , until a cube of dried bread when added to the oil, floats and then turns golden brown in 30-60 seconds. Fry the Bunuelos until they are puffy and golden brown, turning them once or twice during cooking. As soon as they are golden brown, lift them out of the oil using a slotted spoon and lie them on paper towels to drain off excess oil.
7. Mix the remaining sugar with the ground cinnamon in small bowl. Add the bunuelos, one at a time, while they are still warm, toss them in the mixture until they are lightly coated and serve immediatley . Decorate with cinnamon sticks.

Strawberry Orange and Pineapple Smoothie

What do Strawberries, Pineapple and Orange have in common. ?...

Well, they all taste great. What were you thinking. I know, you were thinking of the obvious..they are all loaded with vitamins(anti-oxidants) and minerals and fiber. That means they are really good for you too. So its a win-win situation. Also they are super easy to make and if you are pressed for time and need to snack on something real quick Smoothies is the way to go, atleast in my house.

I was reading a very interesting article. It marked December 29 as the day when people feel most guilty about giving into their indulgences over the last 12 months. Many felt that the day in the middle of the festive season i.e. four days after Christmas and three days before New Year was the ‘guiltiest’ time of the year. Read the entire article here.

So this gave me the idea for this guilt free indulgence(smoothie).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup diced Strawberries
• 1 Navel Orange peeled and diced
• 1 cup diced Pineapple
• 1 cup ice
• 1 tablespoon honey

*If you are using frozen Strawberries, then substitute ice for 1 cup of water or else smoothie will be too thick.

Preparation :

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve immediately. This recipe makes 2 to 3 servings.