peanut butter cookies

these are very easy melt in the mouth cookies that can be made in a jiffy.Recipe from Vahrevah website.

Ingredients;

Corn flour 25 grams
peanut butter 30grams
few peanuts to chop and add
Icing sugar 60 grams
Butter 100 grams
Plain flour 100 grams

Method

1. Take a bowl add butter, icing sugar, cream it, add peanut butter, mix it well and add peanuts (coarsely ground),
2.  add corn starch, all purpose flour, mix it like a soft dough, divide the dough into equal portions 
3. and make a dumplings, each dumpling press them into the crushed roasted peanuts.I didn't add any peanuts on top here as I didn't have enough but it's still OK
4.  and arrange them into the baking tray and flatten them lightly with your finger.
5.  and bake them at 180 c for 15 minutes.

Nachos with all trimmings

Who doesn't like a plate of nachos to share with friends while watching a movie/game.
I like all the trimmings that go with it and tastes a lot better than the jar version of these.

Ingredients

a packet of nachos - unsalted  version better

2 Avacados

1 red onion

2 ripe tomatoes

1 lemon

Radish

Coriander bunch

1jar of Refried beans

1 jar jalapenos

Method;

Guacamole;

take 2  ripe avacados and de skin and remove stones.The way I do it is by running a knife alone the midddle and twisting it to remove it.You can then just the scoop the flesh out.

Mash it with a fork.

Chop the onions and tomatoes and coriander like so.

Add then to the avacado you have squashed with a fork.

add some lemon juice,sea salt and chilly if you like.

Salsa

Fresh salsa is even simpler.

Just chop some red onions,tomatoes,spring onions,and mix with salt,pepper,lemon juice and coriander leaves

Beans;

Refried beans in can can be boring.I just took a little olive oil in a pan and added some cumin powder and coriander powder to it 1 teaspoon each.I then added the refried beans with some water .added few spring onions at the end and adjusted the salt.

Assembly

To assemble everything together.I have taken some nachos on a plate and sprinkled some cheese.put it in the microwave for 20 seconds to melt the cheese.

I then add blobs of salsa,guacamole on top because everyone can dig in to their favourite bits and nachos won't do soggy.

add some chopped radish,capsicum,jalapeños.

Tortilla snack

I didn't know what else to call it but it is a very simple versatile snack/starter/munch.
basically it is like folded pizza because it has cheese to stick to layers of tortilla together.I got the inspiration from Jamie Oliver where he used simply cheese and some chillies.You can use whatever left overs you have at home and stick the layers with warm cheese.
here I used some potato fry my mum made the other day.I used corn tortillas but can use flour tortillas as well.
My husband's favourite is when I put fresh chopped chillies with cheese.very spicy though!!

1.warm a non stick pan. throw a tortilla on it.

2.sprinkle some cheddar cheese.

3.Add whatever extras you want to add.some ideas 1. chillies either flakes/fresh.2.onion and capsicum 3.left over curry.

4.spread some over cheese on top.close it with another tortilla.

5.Fry 2 minutes on each side and cut into pieces.

Biscotti

These original Italian biscuits are so good with coffee and easy to make.they are relatively guilt free as they have no fat in them .I gave an Indian twist to it by adding cardamom powder to it .

Ingredients

250 gms  Plain flour
100 gms caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2  teaspoon cardamom powder( I used 5-6 cardamom pods for this)
100 grams blanched almonds

Method:

Pre heat oven to 180C(350F/gas4) and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Roast almonds on a baking tray for roughly 8 minutes. chop it into pieces. I usually chop them when they are still warm as they are soft.I roughly make 1 almond into 3 pieces.
Sieve the flour into a large bowl or food processor.I usually whisk eggs separately in a bowl and add sugar and whisk again.Add a pinch of salt,baking powder cardamom powder to the flour.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Mix until you have a smooth dough.Add the copped almonds and knead.
Divide the dough into two pieces and roll each one into a log .Transfer to teh baking tray and slightly press on top to flatten the logs.

Bake for 25 minutes until dough is gold in colour. Take the logs out of the oven and leave to cool slightly while you turn the oven down to 170c.

Cut each log into 1cm thick diagonal slices,lay these on baking tray and return to the oven for 15 min until they  start to brown and are dry to the touch.

Store in airtight container.

South Indian Fish Curry with Mango

In search of easy ,authentic South Indian fish curry I made several attempts with a variety of fish with different recipes and I could never get it to taste like back home.It would also taste better even if I used the same method, if it was made by My Pinni /mum/mother in law.My Pinni who is from Madras makes this wicked meenu kulumbu.
So I came across this recipe in a foodblog 'akilaskitchen' and I was excited while reading it and even more excited to eat it because it was perfect.It has very few spices and no ginger or garlic but for me it was the best curry I made.I added raw mangoes to the recipe and it really gelled very well. You can perhaps add any sour fruit like cooking apples I suppose.I will try it next time.
I found seabass was the best fish to make fish curry but any firm fleshed fish will do.Today I couldn't get seabass at my local supermarket so I used rainbow trout.

Ingredients;

To Grind
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Black Pepper corns - 1 tsp
Shallots / Small onion - 10
Tomato - 1

To Marinate
Fish Pieces - 15 (I used rainbow trout Fish)
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

For Gravy
Oil - 3 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 12 to 15
Onion - 1 big (chopped finely)
Tomato - 1 big (chopped finely)
Raw Mango pieces- 2 small
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Hot water - 3 cups
Tamarind Pulp - 1 cup (Extracted from 2 gooseberry/amla sized tamarind)
Coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method:

 take the washed fish in a big bowl and add the chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt.

Mix them well, so that they are well coated and let it marinate for 30 to 40 min.

Now in a mixer, add the cumin seeds, black pepper.Add the onions and the Tomato.

Grind to coarse paste without any water and keep it ready

In the Kadai / wok, add the oil, and when the oil is hot, add in the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.

. When they turn light brown colour, add the onions and fry for a min or till they becomes translucent.

Now add in the tomatoes and saute them well.
When they are soft add the chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt.

Add in the ground paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off from the onion.

Add the tamarind pulp,mango pieces and 1 cup of water and let it boil.

Add the fish pieces now and let it cook nicely.I add fish pieces when my gravy is done as fish needs only 5 minutes to get cooked.I also make sure there is no stirring at this stage.I just move the pan by its handle once or twice in between.

When the oil starts oozing out from the gravy, add the coriander leaves and switch off the stove

Serve with white rice.

Mysore Laddoo

Ingredients

This is one of the popular sweets my mother makes all the time.She says the recipe is from my grandmother who has never been to Mysore so I doubt the authenticity of it being from Mysore .Nonetheless the name struck and I won't be surprised if people from Mysore never tasted it .It is very soft and delicate and tastes wonderful.It does take some technique I suppose to get it right the first time.

I worked hard in getting the measurements because my mother never weighs anything.I measured these while she was making them and together we made some adjustments to get it right for the scales.

The cups I used for the measurement here are American cup sizes.

11/2 cups granulated sugar  -- 300 grams

175 grams grated coconut

175 grams unsalted Butter

1 cup chickpea flour(besan)   -- 128 grams

Cardamom 4

Cashew nuts few

1 cup Water - 235ml

Method:

1.Heat a wide based pan and 2 spoons ghee (clarified butter).fry few cashew nuts until golden brown and put them aside for later. You wouldn't need these until the last step.

2.In the same pan add Chick pea flour and let it heat gently for 5 minutes until the raw smell is gone .It doesn't need to change in colour. Put it aside.

3.In the same pan add 1cup of  water and 1 ½ cups granulated sugar. when the sugar has melted which will take up to 5 minutes add coconut powder. cook it gently for 10 minutes,

4.Add butter now and let it melt slowly and emulsify for 5 minutes.

5.Then add the Chickpea flour and this is where you need some patience .You need to cook all the ingredients together for any time between 15- 25 minutes.it will be quite runny at this stage but after few minutes it will all start to come together like dough and you will know when to stop by this trick.

The dough will start to leave the sides of the pan and if you a spoonful of it out of the pan and try to make a ball with it you will be able to do so albeit being a soft one.you add cardamom powder at this stage.

6.switch off the flame and transfer the contents to a tray and let it cool down for 15- 20 minutes.The reason being it will be too hot to handle.

7.When it cools down you can shape it into whatever shapes and sizes you like.It will feel quite squishy and leaves indentations when you press on it at this stage but don't worry.by next day it will firm up a bit and get to the right consistency.

8.Decorate with the cashew nuts we fried earlier.

Polenta Cake

This is a beautiful amalgam of Italian and English flavours which I found inspiration from Nigella lawson. She doesn't use any flour for this cake but I substituted half the almond mixture for flour and it resulted in less heavy and still amazing cake.

Ingredients;

for the cake


200 grams soft unsalted butter
200 grams caster sugar
100 grams ground almonds
100 grams plain flour
100 grams polenta ( or corn meal)
11/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large eggs at room temperature
Zest of 2 lemons  or 2 oranges

For the syrup

Juice of 2 lemons or 2 oranges
75 grams icing sugar.

Method

Line the base of a 23cm / 9inch springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/ 350°F.
Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer.

Mix together the almonds, polenta,plain flour and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.
Finally, beat in the lemon zest or orange zest and pour, spoon or scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

It may seem wobbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the tin. remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its tin.
I learnt from few mistakes that the tester coming out clean really doesn't work for the cakes that have ground almonds as it is clean even if the middle is uncooked due to the oil from almonds.I usually leave it for the time mentioned or even a bit longer just to make sure.If there is any worry about top getting burnt you can cover with silver foil.

Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice or orange juice and icing sugar in a smallish saucepan.
Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, you’re done.
Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.

This is a really Moreish cake.It is really light (feels light I mean) and refreshing due to lemon in it.
One of my favourites!!