Crepeliciously Delicious!!!

I feel I have been a "pleaser"  all my life!  

I have been a very good daughter, my mom can vouch for it!!  

I have been a very good sister...I think my brother, grudgingly and forgivingly will vouch for me!!  "S", please say "yes"!!!  

A wonderful hubby pleaser, hubby will happily vouch for that one, if I promise to dish out endless supply of gourmet eats all his life!!!  My kids....yes...they will scream out that I am the best mom in the whole wide world ...... 

                                  Errrrrr.... maybe that was a bit of a stretch there!!  Maybe as long as I let them watch endless hours of TV, arrange play dates all the time, do not bother them about their school work and say yes to everything they think is fun under the sun.....Yes!  I will be the best mom on the block!!!  

Alas!  Reality check:  I am a mean, task master....which I am hoping one day they will come to realize it was after all orchestrated towards their betterment in life!!!!!!  Till then I am willing to wait for them to hand over the coveted prize of "best mommy award" to me!  

                                                                                  But, I do try to please them...I do! I do! I do!!!   Especially with food!  Today was no differnet!  Came back from school and after the usual wanting to do something....I grudgingly let them watch tv, so could get some quiet time for myself.  I urged them to help themselves to some snacks...healthy junk option (huh??!!!).....hahahhahha!!  But, they were bored with all my regular options and could not stand the fact that I was admiring my own pictures shamelessly on facebook and bantering  smart comments back and forth with friends!    They had this strong, saddistic desire to put me to work!!!  

                                                             So, my daughter came up with this idea..."hey mom, can you make me some crepes, those yummy chocolaty ones for IHOP??"  huh!  IHOP..eh???!!  Now, she has bruised my small ego big!!  I had to come up with a better recipe than them....IHOP, ofcourse!!!  I went to the internet, looked around, pulled up the first one....and tweaked it big time!  

It called for less flour, upped it!  More eggs...nah...hate the eggy smell...so decreased the egg!!  There was oil....do not like the sliminess of the oil in the batter, so did not bother to add that!  Love the sweet flavor of vanilla which magically sweetens things without adding any sugar....so included vanilla....pretty much had hit everything on the list...hahahaha...my dear friends........ did you realize....there are very few ingredients to a good crepe recipe.....some flour, milk, and egg???!!  Viola!!!! Can you believe.... these gorgeous little silky roundels can be whipped up with just 3 basic ingredients!!!!   So here it is......

You will need..... 

1 Scant cup of milk (I used 1%), 3/4 cup of loosely packed all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 1 whole egg, and 1 tbsp good quality vanilla essence!

 Add all the above ingredients into a jar of a blender, and blend well until combined.  Blend at low speed for 30 seconds and high speed for another 45 seconds and this is how it should look...with lots of bubbles!!

Your crepe batter is ready!!!  No resting time required, these can be spread into silky sheets of soft indulgence and they come together in no time!!!

Cautionary Pointers: 

Use a well seasoned pan

Heat is always on medium-medium high

Start making the crepe just before the pan starts smoking

Use a brush to moisten the pan with either oil or butter (I used bland canola oil ...about 2 tbsp in all)

Be alert...these thin sheets cook up very fast!

Now follow the picture to make a crepe.....

• Add 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan.  
• Swivel the pan around to spread the batter around in the pan.  
• Wait for the edges to uncurl away from the pan, and small bubbles should appear in the crepe.  
• Gently lift the edge, nudging with a spatula. and gently coax it out of the pan.  As you get couple of these done, you will be able to literally pluck it out of the pan with your fingertips and flip it around.  A nonstick pan helps the process to go smooth!!!   
• Flip it around and let it cook for 30 seconds or until you see tiny bubbles from beneath.  
• Now, transfer the crepe to a serving platter. 

Work with one crepe at a time..... you could apply chocolate hazelnut spread aka Nutella or strawberry preserves.  My kids went the whole 9 yards....they squeezed a jolly god amount of the whipped cream on top of the chocolate spread, rolled it up and enjoyed them!!!  

                                                               These are so delightfully light, delicate, thin, silky sheets, they disappear in no time!!  Was very hard to keep aside a few for the pictures!!  If it is easy and quick to whip these beauties up it is super easy to devour them, takes no effort at all!!! 

  
Enjoy making them with ease with this easy recipe!!  The flair of crepe making (please.....it is not rocket science!) will come to you within the second or the third crepe.  Enjoyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Super Bowl Favorite -- Guacamole!

Guacamole...

green goddess dip...is the name I christened it when I first had it in a small Mexican place in the lazy breezy fantastic town of Fresno!!!  Every time I savor it (my version), I feel, I am taking a bite of Fresno!!!  I am about to digress a bit here....

                                                                Fresno cozily situated in the central valley in the sunny California boasts of it plush produce!!!  Such produce that I have not seen anywhere else....I am yet to step into Florida!!  So, my apologies dear Floridians if I happen to brag too much about this golden city!!!  

                       I visited dear Fresno city after 13 long years, and as I was whizzing past the streets...I was shedding tears and missing my hubby!!!  I was visiting for my aunt's daughter's wedding, with my 2 chipmunks...they were aghast to see me get so emotional (actually being emothional kinda runs in my blood...that is a different story alotgether!)  about a city!!!   SanFransisco was the first city I set my eyes on and then Fresno was the first city I set up and played house for the very first time in my life!!  And that is special right??!!!  

                       And ....... Guacamole was the first snack I had in this country.  

                                                               We, newly weds, would lazily drag ourselves out of the bed by11:00 AM....after a marathon movie night the previous night....and then have a hearty late lunch ...and about 5 would head out to tour the city.....with its couple main boulevards and main streets and tonnes of charm!  We continued this tradition for about a couple months till hubby dear got bored of his paid vacation/honeymoon!!!!!      

                                                                       On one such outing, I think the first day...we stepped into this mom and pop owned Mexican place and hubby ordered guacamole!!!  I fell in LOVE with it...he, the waiter,  came to our table and made it in his little mortar and pestle.  He added the spices, and seasonings according to our taste!!  Quite fancy for a small shop like that....but was indulgence, nevertheless!!!! 

                                                      I make exactly like him minus the mortar and pestle, I use my trustworthy fork and a sturdy ceramic/stainless steel bowl and rely on perfectly ripe avocados to oblige under my mashing prowess!!  I figured after tasting countless varieties....they do come in different textures/spice levels/colors et al.  This is my favorite and hope so, that it will become yours too!!!! 

You don't need very much apart from the avocados!

Here is what you will need --- 

3 Avocados, 2 Thai peppers, 2 small onion, minced, 1 tomato minced, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 1/4 cup lemon juice, adjust to taste, salt to taste and a couple sprigs of cilantro for garnish!

Now...onto de-stoning. the Avocado....use a sharp knife to go around the avocado, your knife will not go through the avocado...there is a perfec little spherical stone in the middle!!!!  Now, twist the top and the bottom in opposite direction and separate the 2 hemispheres!  Pat the knife with a strong pat on the stone, and gently coax the seed out!  Now using a tip of a paring knife....score the avocado in a graph manner.  Using a sharp spoon, scoop out the flesh of the avocado into a bowl.  Act fast, avocados brown as soon as they come in contact with air.  So drizzle a little of the lemon juice, and mix well.

Add the chopped avocados to the onion tomato mixture, add the lemon juice in little increments...according to your desired taste.  Add salt.  And mash the entire mixture with a fork...today I used a potato masher.  Mash it till you get a desired consistency!!

Transfer the dip onto a serving bowl, garnish it with some cilantro and serve with your favorite tortilla chips!!!  

Now...you are fabulously ready for your party...I am too...I am going to my friend A's house, where they have this fabulous home theater, a well stocked bar and tonnes of munchies!!! But, I have a feeling...I am going be socializing with all the ladies, nurse or gulp a few drinks, snack on the munchies, gossip, snatch a clip or two of a movie between endless conversation!!!  Sounds like a lot of fun.....I better go find out who is playing who tomorrow!!  Kidding.......have fun people!!!!  And as always .... do not forget to drop in a line.......
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OOdles of Noodles!!!

My kids like all children who return from school chant the same mantra....we are hungry...we are hungry....we are hungry.... but are not satiated with whatever you give....sandwich?  naaa... chips and dip??  naaa...  chicken nuggets??  naaa.... I am running out of options here, and my light bulb just refuses to go on today!!!!  

                             I let the kids be for a minute, they turned on the TV which kept them going for awhile.  I opened the refrigerator to get some milk out to make myself a cuppa... my eyes fell on a box of cooked spaghetti.....my light bulb started flickering....hey...why not make a veggie noodle dish???  Better yet, why not something Indo Chinese... Veggie Hakka Noodle?  I turned around and took a look at the stove and saw the tava/frying pan resting on my stove top... and another improv idea popped into my head....hey why not Tava Hakka Noodles???!!  

                                                         So, done!!!  Decided!!!  Tava Hakka Noodles it is!!!  this is a combination of the good old  Hakka noodles and the Shanghai Dan Dan Noodles.  So, let us get cracking shall we??! 

                     I am going to take you through the recipes as I moved along in my kitchen!!!

 Heat up a large Tava/ griddle.  Add 1 tbsp of oil to the hot pan.  Once the oil shimmers in the pan....

 add the following in the clockwise direction.....

1/4 purple/red onion, sliced -- saute well; 3cloves of garlic, minced -- saute well until browned; 1" ginger, grated -- saute well; add 1/2 cup grated carrots and 1/2 cup of broccoli slaw -- saute well until the veggies are glazed over.  All this on a medium high flame!!

Add the following spices -- follow the pictures in  anti clockwise direction...

Salt to taste ; cracked pepper about 1/2 tsp ; scallions -- only the white part .. for the mild onion flavor; 1/2 --  1 tbsp soy sauce; saute all this well for a minute or two. 

Add 2 cups of cooked spaghetti! 

And toss the noodles well to incorporate the veggies and spices into the noodles!!

Add couple tablespoons of white vinegar to the dish!  Toss well again!!!  

Spread the noodles on the tava...which comes very handy for the crust formation!!  Spread as evenly as you can and let it sizzle for couple minutes on medium high heat, let it form the crust, toss and repeat it around thrice or until you are satisfied with the crunchiness of the noodles!! 

serve the noodles, piping hot   garnished with green part of scallions, minced! 

tastes great even at room temperature!!  light bulb moment!!!  great as a lunch box option also!!!!  Yippppeeeee!!

Winter soul warmer!!!!

Winter Warmer Soup.... AKA Tamatar Shorba AKA Tomato Soup!!  

It is finally COLD out here!!!! Really really cold or at least feels like it. I just put my groceries away, wish had done it during the day, when the sun was out and when it did not look this dismal!!! Well.... Calls for planing which has eluded me off late...I kinda scurry around, rush around but get things done and call myself an "impromptu" person!!! With the same spirit....I am going to whip up something that has been on my mind all evening, actually ever since I set my eyes on my friend's post on face book about having soups.... She is having soups every day this week... Not a bad idea eh? But I cannot go through soups the whole week, a whole set of 7 days...but I thought, hey,  why not just for tonight?! So this is my winter warmer series of comfort foods...you see, winter did start everywhere but here in MN... We have been having almost spring like weather....so it kinda started this week, with the wind gusts, wind chills, wind swept flurries et al!!!!  

                                                                         Coming back to my friend's post.... all her friends have penned down their favorite soups and I don't think I saw any mention of good old tomato soup!!!!  Also, might have not had its name penned on the roll of honor as it could very well pass for an everyday soup!!  sigh!!  But, it is my absolute "go to" dish when I want to have soups as comfort food!!!  The others, I enjoy as a dish on their own.  But, tomato soup is in its league of its own, and I enjoy different forms of it as well....when blended with coconut milk and is fondly had as Saar in Maharashtra; Tomato rasam in Madras; Mysore Rasam in Krnataka, my own Gujarathi version -- Lal dal soup, my friend K's tomato bisque (to die for!) or cream of tomato in restaurants in India!!!   These were just to name a few!!    

                                      Mulligatawny or Mallagu thanni soup is considered as India's national soup....but hey, wonder whose idea was that... when you open a restaurant menu in India, the soup that takes the coveted top spot is the "cream of tomato" which also happens to be the most popular, and widely ordered soup!!  

                                So, here it is folks, a desi style, soul warming, tongue tingling, full bodied yet... absolutely low fat, please, by all means to make it well rounded and wholesome, go ahead and fatten it up with heavy whipping cream or butter or coconut milk!!  The choice is all yours and endless!!!  Let me also know what you did, so others who read this might benefit too!!!  

You will need:

1 tomato, chopped; 1 small onion, chopped, 1 small carrot, peeled and diced; 1/4 green bell pepper, diced, for flavor; 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp each of cumin powder, cayenne pepper powder; 1/4 tsp pepper powder, 1 tbsp all purpose flour and the star ingredient....5 oz of tomato paste.

Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp of room temperature butter and 1 tbsp of canola oil.

Add cumin powder, mix well and add 1 tbsp of flour and whisk well.  You are making a roux here, a mixture of flour and fat (here butter and oil), usually in a 1:1 ratio.  Here, more fat is used, which works fine.  Stir fast so you do not burn the roux.  A roux is used to thicken soups, stews, sauces.  

Add the following ingredients in the numerical order given above, and saute after each addition... garlic, onion, saute well, carrots, tomatoes and finally the green bell pepper.

Add the base ingredients:  cayenne pepper powder, pepper powder, salt, tomato paste, and saute well!

When all the ingredients look pulpy and well blended, add 24 fluid ounce of water. Mix well and bring to a gentle simmer.

Transfer the mixture into the blender and puree the mixture into a smooth puree. It should have this bright saffron hue to it and is ok if it is chunky!!  Chunky soup = rustic soup!!!!  Or if you desire a smooth soup, then go ahead and strain it. But if you have a good quality blender...this step can be avoided!!!

Tamatar shorba simmering in different stages.  Let it come to a rolling boil for 5 minutes and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Add a pat of butter if desired at the end, just before turning the heat off, to give a silken texture to the soup.  

I served the soup with garlic pannetini, is excellent with additional ground black pepper and served with a toasted lentil wafer.  A perfect soul warmer this winter season!!!  Enjoy huddling with a warm bowl of soup by the fireplace this season!!!  Happy eatings!!

A Christmas Tradition -- Cinnammmanannamon!!!!

Merry Christmas to all my friends in the Blogosphere!!!

Every celebration is foiled with tradition of some sort!!!  We have them in our family too!  Though not born into a christian household, we celebrate Christmas like any other Hindu festival!!!  Maybe because of my mother, my upbringing with a Christian convent right next door while growing up, my grandmother's influence on my mother...I could go on!  We hold this celebrations more so closer to our hearts because, it brings so much joy into our lives in many many ways...giving, sharing, acquiring, entertaining, and so on!  This year, we did a coat drive among friends, and we made blankets as a family to distribute among the less fortunate.  Wish we could do more, but slowly working on it!!!  It is a tradition that we meet at my friend's place for Christmas eve, celebrate the season with my adapted family, here in the tundra!  We exchange gifts and have a merry meal, play some merry games and come home in the wee hours of the morning!  

                                          This year, my 2 eight year old chipmunks, to my delight, stayed young (the clock somehow magically got reversed!!!)!!!  They who scorned at Santa last year were gung ho about believing in him this year!!!  My dear husband played a big part in it!  Anyway...I am not complaining if I am able to hang on to their childishness for one more year!!  Moms of the world...what say you??! 

                                            There is a tradition in our household, it all started when we moved into our home and celebrated Christmas with all the trimmings, I started baking cinnamon rolls, first thing in the morning, and open gifts, savoring each gooey bite with sips of hot coffee with it!  

                                             This year I did something different....made a cinnamon flavored syrup to go along with it.... heavenly!!!  Fresh hot rolls, with a drizzle of the most luxurious syrup, whipped up in a matter of minutes....was pure indulgence.....go ahead and try it.....  here is what you will need!!

 

Bring together the brown sugar and water in a saucepan to a boil. Stir well until the sugar dissolves completely. Simmer till the syrup thickens a bit.  

Add the Condensed milk, stir till smooth, turn the flame off.  Whisk in the ground cinnamon.  I added pumpkin pie spice, as that happens to be my favorite and also, it contains a little of cinnamon, ginger, cloves et al ... making it more classy! 

My cinnamon rolls happily doubling and thriving in the oven at 400F!!  Can't wait to get to it!  We had these lovely, soft rolls with both the traditional icing and the cinnamon syrup!

This is how our table looks as each of us is trying to help ourselves with the toppings!!!!

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!  

Merry Seasons Eatings!!!

Apples .... 3 ways!

Autumn is such a bountiful month!!  The air is crisp, leaves are a beautiful marigold/auburn, holiday season is nearing, and this is a gateway to a season of entertaining, fine food and merry making!!!    The perpetual recipe hunt begins!  On the market front, I am sure there are a lot of produce that we all enjoy immensely in Autumn...but of all that..I love apples!!  I could munch on them, blend them into milkshakes to give an oomph to the nutritional value, for a simple snack, spread a tablespoon of peanut butter, for a more decadent snack...substitute the peanut butter with a tablespoon of Nutella and doll it up with a zest of orange and sprinkle of chopped walnuts!! sigh!!  You can tell....I am digressing here!  We went apple picking.....a favorite activity to do and obviously picked up a ton of apples (at least that is what we thought!) and here I am tired of munching and crunching at them and do not have the heart to throw them away either!  So..... I came up with these alternatives.  I used them up in other forms such as ...

A savory Apple Compote ..absolutely yum!!    This will happily substitute your annual cranberry relish at your thanksgiving table, perfect topper to your cracker at the h'orderves table, a fancy "mini" side with your lunch, a sandwich spread...yup...you got it!!!  Endless possibilities!!!  So, let us get on with the actual recipe!  The ingredients that you will need... 2 red delicious apples, or any apples on hand, 1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced, 1 tsp fennel seeds,  2 tsp cayenne pepper powder, 2 tbsp unsalted butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice....

 In a small saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter, and saute the onion slices until caramelized. Add the ginger, fennel seeds, cayenne pepper powder, and saute well until they are well combined.

Meanwhile, slice the apples thinly. 

Add the apples, lemon juice and brown sugar to the pan, stir well! 

Apples cooking in different stages.... Cook the apples for 20-30 minutes, covered for the first 15 minutes.  The apples will release their juices, and stew in the most heavenly spiced, lemony sugar syrup till they are soft but still hold their shape!  You could make it your own by adding raisins, nuts or raisins to this!

Spiced Ginger Apple Bundt Cake:

I love bundt cakes for all the right reasons!!  They make the simplest of cake recipes look fanciful!  I love to dress up my everyday cake in a bundt pan and put it on a lovely pedestal stand and serve simply dusted with snowiest sprinkle of good old white powdered sugar!  This apple cake is my everyday, easiest cake recipe....it is soft, moist, melt in your mouth kinda cake!!  the whole cake is made with just 1 cup flour and sugar and 1/2 cup oil!!  So, indulge in it...guilt free!  
You will need... 1/2 cup canola oil, 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed, 1 egg, 1 cup all purpose flour, (watch out for the typo mistake in the pic) -- 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbsp grated ginger, 1 1/2 -2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice and 1 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder...

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• First, mix all the dry ingredients together and aerate the mixture with a whisk and set aside!
• Mix all wet ingredients with a whisk.  Grate and dice the apples, add them to the wet ingredients and mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix well, the mixture will be quite thick and lumpy!  Do not be alarmed!!!  
• Grease a bundt pan with some non-stick cooking spray. 
• Pour the mixture into the pan, level it, bake it in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes at 350F.  
• Test for done-ness with the help of a toothpick.  It should come out clean which it will for, this si a fool proof cake!!!  Cool the cake and invert it onto a serving platter and serve with a dollop of whipped cream with a sprinkle of ginger powder!  

Warm, moist cake with a hint of spice with a gentle burn in the back of your throat with a cup of tea....pure heaven!!!!!!!!!

My last entry.....

Apple Thokku aka Apple Pickle!

Thokku, is a pickle that is made and enjoyed the same day!  Since it is cooked well, with the vegetable and spices in the oil, it does not have to rest for a period like avakkay etc.  This gets done fast too...have always wondered about its shelf life!  Maybe it is so darn tasty that we wipe it off as soon as this is made!  But can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month!  This recipe was born out of necessity!  As a new bride, I had to come up with a quick pickle for a dinner party!  No mangoes or lemon in hand; no driver or a car at my disposal to go to the nearest grocer!  But there were two green apples sitting alone, biding their time on my counter...as the light bulb went "on" in my head, they were washed, grated and combined with the spiced oil and cooked to pulpy goodness to the delight of my senses as the pickle aroma wafted through my tiny kitchen!!!  Was proud to serve as part of my south Indian dinner platter.  Today, other apples have found their way into this pickle, and apart from being a part of a traditional south Indian meal, they also star as dips with tortilla and pita chips, on buttered toast or on English muffins, thinned out with oil, serve as a perfect dressing to cut fruits as the cantaloupe and melon cubes!!   You let me know what you served them with! 

You will need ...Spice Mixture:   2 tsp of mustard seeds (black or brown, I prefer black), 1 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi), 1 tsp ground asofetida (hing).  Toast the above spices till the mustard furiously pops around...so have a lid handy!  The methi seeds need to darken.  Cool and transfer them to a spice blender and powder them to a fine powder. 

You will need ... for the Pickle:  1 tbsp of the spice mixture, 2 tsp salt, 1 1/2-2 tbsp red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp hing, 1 tsp mustard seeds,  1/2 cup canola oil and 2 apples (any variety... increase the salt and cayenne pepper powder according to taste if the apples are sweet!), grated.

Heat oil in a wok, add 1 tsp of mustard seeds, and hing.  Once the mustard seeds pop, add the spice mixture and cayenne pepper powder, toss well in the hot oil.  Let the oil froth over on medium heat.  Add the grated apples, salt and cook the mixture, covered  till it is well combined.  Let this auburn spicy mixture cook until the oil seeps out.  This should not take more than 20 minutes to come together!  Once the moisture from the apples have evaporated, and the mixture evolves to a deep reddish brown color, turn the heat off.  Cool and store the mixture in airtight jars. 

Enjoy these fall inspired recipe from my kitchen to yours!!!  Make yummy memories in your kitchen!!!  

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am getting ready.....  to get the candy out.... get my kids all dolled up, and greet the trick or treaters.....tonnes of neuvo candies to hand out!!!  I can almost feel the sugar rush!!!  Wish you all a spooky and a safe Halloweeeeeeeeeeen:))))))))))))