“Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not! “
Author Unknown
Time for SnackORama’s ‘What is your favorite Dessert/Sweet’ ? “It can be Sweet, cake or ice cream anything that is sweet like you all ;-).“…so she says.
Bring on the festival season!!
ALMOND-ORANGE SPONGE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE…one ofour favourite desserts!!
CHOCOLATE, ORANGE & ALMOND…the flavours are outstanding. Each complementing the other beautifully,they get enhanced while the cake is chilled. I have made this a number of times, and have always received compliments.The recipe is here if you’d like to see it.
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” OSCAR WILDE, The Picture of Dorian Gray
CHOCOLATE PRETZELS
Thanks to Happy Cook, have woken up from my slumber to make my first entry for a wonderful and festive blog event…‘A Spoonful of Christmas’ which is a ‘food as a gift’ theme event…‘An event designed for all the people who love to cook for their loved ones. Those, who are willing to spend some time in the kitchen in order to come up with great ideas for food as a gift.’
Great way to usher in the holiday season, and a theme that I can’t think can get better. HOME-MADE gifts…my mantra always! The mind is thinking, so hopefully Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen should have more entries.
Here’s a recipe I’ve made umpteen times, over & over again. It’s from my first baking book I bought after I got married, ‘The Baking Encyclopedia‘ . The kids love these chocolaty, crisp pretzels. I sometimes colour co-ordinate them with the cake frosting at birthdays; & at other times, like for Christmas, I use Xmas sprinkles. They are great fun to make, & cookies made at home have a wonderful flavour that you can’t find in ones that are store-bought! Always worth the bother…these pretzels can be put into a pretty box or basket & make great gifts.
Pretzels with Iced Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
Flour- 1 cup
Salt – 1 pinch
Cocoa Powder – 3 Tbsps
Butter – 1/2 cup
Castor sugar – 2/3 cup
Egg – 1
Egg white – 1/slightly beaten for glazing
Sugar crystals, dragees, sprinkles etc for decoration.
Method:
Sift the flour + salt + cocoa powder 3 times. Keep aside.
Cream butter with sugar until light.
Beat in the egg.
Add the dry ingredients and stir to blend. Gather together to form a ball.
Wrap in clingwrap & chill for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Grease 2 baking sheets.
Divide the dough into 28 balls. ( I first divide it into half, then make a long cylinder, mark it 14 times & then make the balls). Flour your hands if the balls are sticky.
Roll each ball into a rope about 10 inches long. Mark the centre of the rope, and bring both the ends in a loop to meet the centre. Twist the ends and fold back on the circle to make a pretzel shape. It sounds a bit tough, but is simple to do..look at the picture.
Brush the pretzels with egg white. Sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles and bake for 10-12 minutes till firm. Transfer carefully to a wire rack to cool.
On the STRAWBERRY: “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” Dr William Butler, 17th century English writer
STRAWBERRY SWISS ROLL
A delicious & light dessert which I made a while ago when I wasn’t quite camera crazy & ‘blogged on’. It was loved by everyone; am waiting to see strawberries back this season to make it again. The gateau has this lovely fresh flavour, and the vibrant look enhances the great taste!! Pretty simple and straightforward, this can be made in a day in advance. Keep it covered if you choose to make it the day before.
Ingredients: Eggs – 2
Powdered Sugar – 2/3 cup
Zest of ½ an orange Flour – 1/2 cup Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Whisk the eggs + sugar + vanilla essence + rind until thick; approximately 10 minutes till mousse-like.
Fold in the flour with a metal spoon very carefully; try not to knock out any air.
Pour batter into tin and bake for 15-20minutes/till done.
Turn the cake onto a kitchen towel, sprinkled with Castor sugar, remove the butter paper, roll up gently & leave to cool.
Meanwhile, to make the filling, put the cream + rind + sugar in a bowl and beat well until thick.
Whisk the yogurt until smooth & gently mix in. Divide the mixture into 2 bowls.
Chop ¾ of the strawberries and fold into 1 bowl for the filling. Slice the remainder for the top. Reserve a few leaves too if you like, or use fresh mint leaves.
Unroll the sponge and spread the strawberry filling, leaving 1/2 and inch at the edges. The filling will get pushed out as you roll the sponge. Roll the sponge gently, but firmly, and lay in a serving dish with the edge underneath. (to prevent it from opening/unrolling).
Spread the second bowl of cream over the top, decorate with sliced strawberries and mint leaves, and dust with icing sugar.
Chill well before serving.
Note: This can be made with other seasonal soft fruit like blackberries, blueberries/rasberries etc. Also, for those who like toasted almonds, you can include them in the topping.
‘It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.‘ Laura Ingalls Wilder
Am pushing my limits…Between dropping the kids off to school, and now returning to get them back (they come back early today grrrrrrrrr…), I cooked, imagined, clicked,downloaded & am now trying to post.
It’s been like this since yesterday. The hubby came back after working all night long ( he’s an aircraft engineer), to receive a call an hour deep into slumber that there was a diverted flight with a medical emergency. So we all rushed madly in all directions…me to get the kids ready for school, and he to resurrect & hit the road in 10 minutes. The medical emergency had a happy ending with the birth of a really cute little baby girl inflight!! How sweet is that!!
Must thank Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi for adding to the general excitement in life! Never thought I would spend sleepless nights trying to think up noodle art & baby girls. Yes, been there & done that too…PHEW!!
So here’s my entry for CLICK: NOVEMBER 2007….the theme is NOODLES!!
‘NIRVANA…BASKING IN THE LUXURY OF OODLES OF NOODLES!’
Am compelled to show you a couple of other pictures that I took while trying to figure out what to shoot…these are not part of the entry but I love the expressions. Also love the red platter which a friend just brought for me from babushka land…Thank you Chhoti, I love it!
‘Please, can we have them cooked?’
‘That’s much better…time to CLICK now!’
Thanks Jai & Bee…have enjoyed this one tremendously!
“Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything.” Anna Quindlen
SMOKED BUTTER PANEER CURRY…‘Paneer-e-Dhungaar’ is what I like to call it!
This recipe is the result of trying to keep the dinner table smiling with eager kids. Here’s a nice change to the regular Indian style cottage cheese/paneer curry. It combines the best of paneer tikka (which has a smoked flavor) & butter paneer.
I made this up one day when the kids were losing interest at the dinner table, and I had paneer on hand which I wanted to add to the menu! The flavour turned out very nice indeed; and the kids enjoyed it a lot. I dare say this would taste just as well with chicken too, but have yet to try it.
Ingredients:
Paneer/cottage cheese – 250gms (NOT CUT INTO PIECES) Piece of coal – 1 small Ghee – few drops Tomotao Puree – 200ml Onion – 1/ chopped fine Capsicum – 1 / chopped fine Green chili – 1-2/to taste (deseed to reduce pungency) Turmeric powder (haldi) – ½ tsp Coriander powder (dhania) – 1tsp Paprika (degi mirch) – ½ tsp (enhances the colour;has mild flavour) Salt to taste Cream – 1-2 tbsps (20-30% fat) Fresh coriander leaves (hara dhania patta) for garnishing
A piece of coal being heated on the flame. Keep the kids FAR away!
Method:
Place the paneer in a big bowl. Keep a lid handy and a weight that you can place on top. A heavy book will do fine!
Heat a piece of coal on the fire till red hot. Place the hot coal in a small cup of foil in the bowl with the paneer, pour on the ghee on, and quickly shut it with the lid so that minimum fumes escape. Place a weight over the lid, and leave unopened for at least 30 minutes. This will help get a deep, intense smoked flavour.
Heat 2 tbsps of oil. Put in chopped onions + capsicum and sauté till onions are pink.
Add the turmeric + coriander + parprika. Saute for half a minute.
Add the tomato puree + salt, mix well, simmer covered for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, take out the paneer and cut into pieces as desired.
Once the tomato curry leaves oil, add the paneer pieces into the curry, mix gently, add the cream + chopped coriander leaves, simmering for 10-15 minutes, until heated through. Do not put on high heat, otherwise the cream might separate.
Garnish with coriander leaves, and a swirl of cream if desired.
Serve with hot chapattis, parathas, naans or rice.
“Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. “
Jeffrey Glassberg
The past few days have seen a nice change in the weather and have brought forth plenty of happy butterflies. I love to sit with a book in the garden, watching these fascinating creatures flutter around. The brown one on top, a little one (an inch!) has my favourite colours…beige/khaki & black . The one below , was discovered by my son, fast asleep in the Currypatta tree (Botanical name – Murraya koenigi) in the backyard…the colours reminded me of Halloween!
“I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! – not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!”
William Wordsworth, ‘To a Butterfly’
“The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.” Attributed to George Carlin
