Ney Payasam/ Rice pudding with Jaggery and Ghee

Ney Payasam is a very delicious dessert. This is my MIL's recipe. 'Ney' means ghee/clarified butter..so this dish does have lots of it. But once you taste it its divine and you would want t o forget counting your calories just for that day...lol. Mostly at our in-laws place its prepared on auspicious days and on birthdays.

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 1/2 cups jaggery
• 1/2 cup ghee/clarified butter
• 1/4 cup cashews and green raisins
• 1 -2 tbsp thinly sliced coconut pieces
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/4 cup water

Preparation :

• Wash rice and pressure cook with 1 cup of water about 2 -3 whistles till its soft.
• Now take a thick bottomed pan and melt the jaggery in 1/4 cup water on medium heat. When the jaggery has all melted and comes to a boil, add the cooked rice and keep on stirring for about a minute. Now you have to keep adding the ghee 1-2 tsp at a time and stir it well. Keep doing until you have used all the ghee and soon the payasam will start leaving the side of the pan. This is the indication its done and time to remove from the heat.
• Now heat 1 tsp ghee and fry the cashews till golden, next fry the raisins till they puff up and last fry the bits of coconut till golden brown.
• Add to the Payasam. Next add the cardamom powder and mix well.
• Your Ney Payasam is ready to serve.
• This recipe serves 4. Its best enjoyed when its warm.

Brussels Sprouts in Tomato Gravy

Brussels Sprouts look like miniature cabbages and taste a lot like cabbage too. So if you like cabbage I'm sure you would love Brussels Sprouts. For the rest it would be an acquired taste. Its a rich source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, folic acid, dietary fibre as well as known to have anti-cancer properties.

Ingredients:

• 20 brussels Sprouts cut into quarters
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 large tomato (puree)
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1" ginger grated
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin-cilantro powder
• 1/2 tsp amchur powder(dry mango powder)
• Salt to taste
• oil

Preparation : Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the grated ginger. Fry for about a minute. Add the tomato puree. Fry for about 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin -cilantro powder, amchur powder , green chillies and salt. Fry for another minute or so until oil leaves the masala. Now add the Brussels Sprouts and mix well. Cook covered on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Check it from time to time and if it gets too dry add some water. I cooked mine in the tomato gravy itself as the tomato was quite juicy. Serve it with rice or Phulkas/Roti.

Serves : 4

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients :

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• sugar for rolling

Preparation : Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper. Now cream the shortening and sugar until mixed well either by hand or by using the electric mixer on a low speed. Add the egg and molasses and beat till completely incorporated. Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon , salt , cloves and add to the mixture. Mix well and it forms a dough. Now roll the dough into balls of about 1" in diameter. Roll the balls into sugar and place on the prepared cookie sheet atleast 1/2" apart. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingertips and bake for 12 minutes. This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Recipe Source : Paula Deen

Happy Diwali.

Colorful Wishes for a very happy, peaceful and prosperous Diwali.

Besan ladoos

Wishing all my readers a happy Diwali . I love this festival of lights. I have to admit though being far away from home(India) its very hard to feel the spirit of Diwali here. We still try to do the best we can as we want our kids to know our culture, our festivals and the significance of it. 

So in keeping with the festivities made besan ladoos for Diwali. For me personally Diwali is not complete without ladoos. Maybe because my mom always made these and I love them. So making these ladoos brings India(and all my childhood memories) right into my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1  1/2 cups besan (gram/chickpea )flour
• 1  1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 3/4 cup ghee (Clarified butter)
• 1/4 cup raisins and broken cashews (fried in ghee)
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder( freshly ground)
• crushed pistachios (optional)

Preparation:

• Heat ghee in a pan (thick bottom preferred). When the ghee is melted and you see tiny bubbles add the besan and keep roasting on a slow flame. The intention is to keep roasting till you no longer get the raw smell of besan. (takes about 15 minutes). Also it will be a little pasty in appearance and your kitchen will be filled with the aroma of the roasted besan/chickpea flour.
• Now take it to a big bowl and add the sugar, fried nuts and cardamom powder. Mix well.
• Wait for a few minutes till the mixture cools down a little just enough so that you can make them into ladoos. Take a little of the mixture into your hands and form them into small balls.
• This recipe makes 15 Besan ladoos.

* This recipe requires ground sugar. If you do not have confectioner's sugar feel free to grind regular sugar to a fine powder.

Dal Kabila

I was really impressed by the name..Dal Kabila. Really had to try out this recipe from the cook book, Prashad - Cooking with Indian Masters. Many a times don't you get impressed when you see a dish with an exotic name... I do..and it gives me great pleasure to see how a great chef cooks a dish and presents it...So I'm playing a chef(real) for a day...presenting this dish from my kitchen to yours. Also my critics(kids & hubby) loved it.....

I'm also really curious about the origin of this name. Did try to look it up with no luck... If anyone out there has some information please enlighten Moi... As far as I know the word 'Kabila" means Tribe in Hindi...So maybe cooking for a tribe...Well cooking for a tribe or not..It did turn out good..try it for yourself !!!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups Urad Dal
• 5 tsp Garlic paste
• 7 tsp Ginger paste
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro/coriander
• 4 green chillies(optional)
• 8 whole red chillies
• 5 tsp Coriander seeds
• 1/4 cup ghee/oil
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 1/4 tsp Fenugreek/Kasoori methi (optional)
• salt
• 7 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

**I substituted oil intead of ghee and used a little of Amul butter...So feel free to make changes as per your taste and calorie intake...

Preparation :

• Wash and soak the urad dal for about 2 hours. Drain and boil dal with about 4 cups of water and salt and cook until tender.
• While the dal is cooking dry roast the red chillies and coriander/cilantro seeds and grind it or pound with a pestle.
• Heat oil in a Kadhai/thick bottomed pan. Add the garlic paste. Saute till golden brown. Add the fresh pounded spices and stir for about 15-20 minutes. Add the tomatoes. Saute for about 2-3 minutes and now add 2/3 of the chopped cilantro, ginger paste and saute till the oil leaves the masala. Now Add the boiled urad dal and let it simmer for 5 minutes on medium heat.
• Next add the butter, Garam Masala, lemon juice and the rest of the chopped cilantro and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Your delicious Dal Kabila is ready to be served with any Indian bread of your choice.
• This recipe serves 4.

Pumpkin Carving 101- How to carve a pumpkin

Halloween has become a favorite holiday for us after we moved to the US. Its celebrated on october 31st. Its such a colorful holiday. The main attractions would have to be getting all dressed up and going 'Trick -or-treating". Also pumpkin carving is a big part of Halloween too.. My kids love going pumpkin picking and then obviously we have to help them carve as well. This year we carved a haunted house on a hill onto our pumpkin.

You would need :

• A Pumpkin
• A pumpkin carving kit is preferable. I bought one from Kmart. You could also use a large spoon and a thin bladed knife.
• template/design. Mine came with the kit. Many designs are available online as well.
• Lots and lots of patience !!!!

Now the magic begins :
Cut out a circle at the top of the pumpkin around the stem using a knife.

Now clean the inside of the pumpkin and scoop all the seeds and the flesh etc by hand or with a large spoon. Also scrape the inside walls of the pumpkin clean as shown using a spoon.

Now place the template onto the pumpkin and transfer the design using a transfering tool or a toothpick.

Now you could begin carving , just follow the design. I have used a carving saw provided in the kit. You could use a knife(thin-bladed) for this step.

Also you really will have to take your time for this step...This will really test your patience...

There you go..all carved and ready for the test...

Place a votive candle inside the pumpkin and see your haunted house on a hill come to life....Boo !!!!!!!

Happy Halloween...and I'm sure you are all ready with your costumes....If not you still have some time. Also would love to hear about your pumpkin carving experiences.. As for us we had a blast.