Thandai Indian Rice Kheer, my version of serving up Thandai in an Indian rice pudding, or kheer as locally called. Flavoured delicately, this indulgent rice pudding hits all the right notes. Sweetened gently with jaggery, the flavours of almond, cardamom and saffron just shine. The texture of broken simmered rice is what adds body to this delectable kheer or pudding.The underlying inspiration comes from Dolphia who inspired, coerced and pushed me to shoot saffron. That’s one of the reasons this kheer came to be. The other reason of course was that the better half has bitterly complained over the last few days that I haven’t made a kheer in years! As much as I love stirring a good kheer, for some reason it hadn’t happened yet…
Then yet another trip into Old Delhi, some Kashmir saffron bought to please Dolphia and the hub {in no particular order of course} meant that the kheer was simmering away gently quite soon. The recipe of course inspired by the season, all the Thandai kind of stuff I make at this time of the year. Thandai is a spice and nut blend, with ingredients that include almonds, melon seeds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, green cardamom, saffron, rose petals, sometimes whole pepper too. It is popularly served up as a milk cooler, often with a local bhaang or intoxicant, on Holi. There are a million versions, every household laying claim to their recipe. Mine changes all the time!
Sometimes, a theme helps me find direction, and this time around the prettiness of the colours got to me. Spring is like that, and so is every visit into the heart of Old Delhi!
First I did a Saffron Almond Chia Thandai for Olive Tree Trading and that really set the mood. So much colourful prettiness and so much inspiration. That’s just how this time of the year is. I’ve dried loads of organic rose petals, so you’ll see me using those a lot.And so to cut a loooong story short, I finally made the Thandai Indian Rice Kheer. And it came out finger licking good. It’s a quick one, one I figured out as I went along. It’s the first time I’ve ground almonds with rice {an earlier version had the Thandai nut mix}. For some reason, I loved this simpler version. Here it is, the Thandai Indian Rice Kheer.
Flavoured gently, this indulgent Thandai Indian Rice Kheer hits all the right notes. Sweetened gently with jaggery, the flavours of almond, cardamom and saffron just shine. The texture of broken simmered rice is what adds body to this delectable kheer or pudding.
Saffron strands, almond slivers, pistachio bits, rose petals etc.
Instructions
Dry grind rice and almonds to a coarse breadcrumb like texture in a coffee grinder. You can add the cardamom seeds here if you like.Stir the above into cold milk with the jaggery, cardamom seeds and cream if using.
Put over low heat and cook for about 25-30 minutes, STIRRING OFTEN, until the rice is cooked and the kheer thick.
Taste and adjust sweetness if required. Take off heat and add a generous pinch of saffron. Stir well.
The kheer will continue to thicken as it cools. You might need to add a little milk as the absorption quality of rice differs. Once it gets to room temperature, ladle into earthenware bowls, individual serving bowls etc to set. Garnish with saffron strands, almond slivers, pistachio bits, rose petals etc.
Serve chilled.
Note: Rinse, drain and dry the rice overnight, else dry in microwave for 1 minute.
“The oat is the Horatio Alger of cereals, which progressed, if not from rags to riches, at least from weed to health food.”
Waverley Root
Date Walnut Orange Flapjacks … squares of goodness that come together in minutes. Not sure why, but ever since I began making granola again {read every Sunday}, I’ve had flapjacks on my mind. It’s a very strange thought as it crept in without prior notice, and yesterday for some reason that’s all I wanted to bake. Every time I got up to bake cookies, I pulled out the bag of oats. Guess these were meant to be. And so was this naughtiness that crept into my frames…Little Bambi, our newest little family member who we adopted recently, had an absolute field day. She loves photobombing whenever I try and shoot. You might see here here on PAB now and then!What are flapjacks you might ask.Well ‘a flapjack, muesli bar, cereal bar, or granola bar is a sweet tray-baked oat bar made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup‘ and looks like this fits in quite well with my whole grain breakfast granola sort of a theme. I guess I could have just added some granola I made this morning into a bowl, tossed it in with some other stuff, pushed it together, let it set and made granola bars.But my granola is very precious these days. It’s much in demand in parfaits so I figured it would be a shame to use it so easily cheaply. Then again the net is overflowing with recipes of flapjack and this recipe fromFood52 won me over. The ease of the recipe, the beauty of ingredients, the pantry staples all made it seem so simple.Too simple I might add. You might have caught how easy these were to make on my instastories on my Instagram handle. In any case, this is the easiest ‘stir the wet mix into dry’ procedure. And it tasted drop dead delicious with ‘toffee’ good flavours, a sweetness which soothes the soul, and a load of oats, walnuts, sunflower seeds! Oh and a burst of orange flavour!Too much of a good thing and a new way to use quick cooking oats.Ever since I began using jumbo oats in my granola, the regular bag of quick cooking oats just sits and stares at me. No longer I guess. This is another fantastic way to use quick cooking oats . I adapted the recipe to use things that I had on hand so my flapjacks had walnuts and dates. Also the zest of an orange as it was just sitting on the counter and added freshness to the otherwise monochrome palette.
Buttery & nutty with a burst of orange, sweetly comforting and quite indulgent, these Date Walnut Orange Flapjacks are going to be showing up quite often. A recipe minimally adapted from one @food52 , it comes together in a matter of minutes.
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Total Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 16squares
Ingredients
Wet mix
125gunsalted butter
100gbrown sugar
90ghoney
Dry Mix
200gquick cooking oats
50gdateschopped
50gwalnutschopped
35gsunflower seeds
Zest of 1 orange
Instructions
Line a 8 X 8" square tin with parchment. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the butter, brown sugar and honey in a heatproof bowl and microwave for a minute until the butter has melted. Whisk well until you get a toffee like mixture.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add all the remaining ingredients and stir to mix.
Pour over the toffee mixture and stir well to mix.Transfer to prepared tin, pat down into place with an offset spatula or butter knife.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes until light golden brown on the edges but still soft in the centre.
“Fussing over food was important. It gave a shape to the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner; beginning, middle, end.” Robert Hellenga
Fruits with Cream & Granola Parfaits … couldn’t be a better way to begin the morning. All this while I thought granola was just one of the best ways to start the day, so I made that a lot. It was simple. Granola + Milk + fruit = done! Then along came cream, an idea crossed my mind and breakfast got a makeover, a fun and colourful one at that. The parfait is showing up as dessert at home too now, made with just cream, no dahi! Folk who know me, know of my love for dairy. Everything and anything dairy hits a home run for me, and that speaks pretty much for everyone at home.The neat little tetrapacks of Mother Dairy cream have changed the way I work in the kitchen, cooked and baked. The ease, the taste, the quality stepped up what I do in the kitchen in exciting ways. I am sure if you are like me, and love to cook and bake, your pantry’ll never be without this handy staple. It literally finds its way into everything I make, especially sweet!So when Mother Dairy Creams asked if I’d like to take do a few recipes for #CreamOfAllFood and taking over their Instagram handle for a week, I could hardly say no. There was nothing I’d have liked to do better! Mother Dairy products have been a part of my growing up years, bringing up the kids, my kitchen, my culinary life. This was just going to be an extension of what I enjoy doing most – experimenting in the kitchen.A ton of ideas tumbled out of my head. I settled for this one first – Fruits with Cream & Granola Parfaits because I love the idea of layered desserts, cakes etc. Because the family had just returned from NYC and one of them described a delicious parfait they had for breakfast there. Because I had a sackful of granola at home that someone had sent as a gift. Because I love fruit in food, and lastly, I love playing with my food recipes…
One thing led to another. Some twitter conversations later, before I knew it, I was baking granola for the parfaits. I have always been charmed by doing things from scratch, granola being one of them. I find it difficult to understand why you wouldn’t bake something so simple at home? Please try baking some once, and you’ll do it over and over again. It makes life simple, you feel great, the kids get addicted to it, you can use it for energy bars, for breakfast…and for dessert too. Throw some into smoothies, scatter it over fruit salad or ice cream, or just munch on some as a snack. It is so customisable too. That done, a nice big batch smiled at me as I thought of putting the parfait together. It’s the simplest thing to do. As things go, I love the edge of subtle indulgence these Fruits with Cream & Granola Parfaits offer. There is little guilt for two reasons. No, make that three! Maybe more!!Cream is good fat. The granola is 100% wholegrain, glutenfree and home made. Last but not the least,the parfait has a generous portion of seasonal fresh fruit in there. And so many more reasons to enjoy this. Dahi/yogurt, honey, chia seeds … thing good gut bacteria and protein, think natural sweetener, think superfoods that are also called seeds of life. Above all, think S I M P L E !!So wait no further. I played out the recipe on Instastories the Mother Dairy Instagram handle that I’m taking over this week. This was #InstaCookingClass #1. Catch me there, or on the Mother Dairy FaceBook page later this week . Love to hear if you liked it {or not}, what recipes you might like to see in future, and what you’d like to make with the #CreamOfAllFood!
Tip: Use a piping bag or ziploc to pipe in the cream mix to make it neat.
Tip: Use any seasonal fruit you enjoy eg Banana Strawberry Parfait, Black Forest Parfait, Banoffee Parfait.
Tip: Great idea to make a parfait bar and get kids to 'build their own' colourful parfaits
Tip: Use more cream, less yogurt and turn this into a dessert with the cream.mix, fruit & nuts!!
Easiest Homemade Granola
Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a large baking dish with parchment.
Stir together all the dry ingredients EXCEPT the dried cranberries and chocolate chips in a large bowl. {Tip: Use the mixer bowl from The Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer as it is convenient to use and very big}.
Whisk the honey into the olive oil.
Pour the wet mix over the dry mix, and give it all a good stir.
Turn it into the prepared pan, press down lightly, and bake for approximately 45 minutes until light golden brown. Stir 2-3 times while baking.
Once baked, stir in the dried cranberries while still hot, and chocolate chips once cool.
“If chocolate is the answer, the question is irrelevant.”
Unknown
Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés … dark chocolate, a mix of wholegrain flours, a little all purpose too, brown sugar, sea salt, of course butter. All these come together to make an eggless cookie, the indulgent sablé, a quintessential round French shortbread cookie. Crisp, deeply chocolate, buttery, wholegrain, eggless, Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés are the yummiest cookies ever! Even better since the recipe is eggless. The only sablés I’ve tried before were Dorie Greenspans famous World Peace Cookies, ones that I loved. She’s since reinvented them into an even more delicious version that I just discovered.
With wholewheat and buckwheat in this buttery chocolaty shortbread, I didn’t expect things to go so well. Can safely say these are my best chocolate shortbread cookies to date, best eggless cookies too! They’re inspired and adapted from Chocolate Sables @ The Boy Who Bakes, and HE is so good in everything he bakes! These are great for the festive cookie platter, fab for hanging off the tree and make a great gift too.I did a batch for Diwali earlier, and now a cookie cutout one for Christmas. With hand made wreaths using the perennial local ‘Mor Pankhi’, a genus of coniferoustrees, it was a lot of fun. Made the wreaths for the Teabox Christmas shoot earlier in November, which was a fun & creative shoot. Here’s a peak of a couple I shot on the side, and you can see more on their website.You could always add some tea leaves into the cookies to make this a chocolate tea shortbread. Now that’s an idea I might work on. Until then, here are Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés, eggless cookies loaded with chocolate, and almost wholegrain, with the goodness of buckwheat {kuttu ka aata}. Great comfort food, great for the holidays.
Crisp, deeply chocolate, buttery, wholegrain, eggless, Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés are the yummiest cookies ever! Adapted from The Boy Who Bakes.
Course Snack
Cuisine French
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 25 minutesminutes
Servings 2dozen
Ingredients
Dry mix
50gwholewheat flour {aata}
50gbuckwheat flour
50gplain flour
1/2tspbaking soda
1/4black truffle sea salt {or sea salt}
Wet mix
115gunsalted butter, room temp
1tspvanilla extract
100gbrown sugar
125g52% dark chocolateground {or finely chopped}
Instructions
Dry Mix
Stir dry ingredients in a bowl to mix. Reserve.
Wet Mix
Place butter, brown sugar and vanilla in bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until smooth.
Add the dry mix and ground chocolate, and mix on the lowest speed just enough for the dough to come together.{You can do this by hand to play safe}. Don’t over-mix else the cookies will become hard.
Bring the dough together, either make a cylinder like roll, cling-wrap and chill for a couple of hours.
Alternatively, you could always use the dough for cut out cookies.
“You don’t have to eat less, You just have to eat right.” Unknown
Green Goddess Apple Cucumber Coconut Water Smoothie, quite nice actually! Packed with nutrition too. You might have heard about Spirulina. Well if you haven’t, it is one of the most potent sources of easily digestible vegetarian protein available, a powerhouse of nutrients available in nature. It is harvested form blue green algae present in water bodies, and has been used in food for centuries.The primary challenge is making sure the water that hosts the algae is non contaminated, and this brand is certified organic, cultivated in an environment free from pollution, ground water contamination, pesticides and herbicides.I used Spirulina powder for the first time with much apprehension. Not because I doubted the source or the nutritional value, but because I had been warned a plenty that it was an acquired taste. Since this dark green powder, almost jade like in colour, is harvested from algae from water, the first impression is of a very fishy, concentrated seaweed like aroma. Anything fishy doesn’t work with me, you can promise me it’s a 100% vegetarian never mind. The challenge is to use this superfood in ways that tease the palette to enjoy it everyday in a form that is easy and fun.
The positives are plenty, enough to make me reach out for a daily health boost. Spirulina is largely made up of protein and essential amino acids, and is typically recommended to vegetarians due to its high natural iron content. This unassuming supplement is a natural source of essential phytonutrients, omega 6 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, said to be the most effective and safest way to compensate for your incomplete daily dietary intake. It’s classified as the most nutrient dense food on the planet. Algae here I come!!
Time to make each drink a SuperDrink. Adding Spirulina is a nice way to include a highly nutrient rich Superfood in our daily diets which with only minimal effort. Spirulina is said to work towards improving immunity levels, energy levels and boosting metabolism. With hectic and busy schedules coupled with the use of chemicals in fresh produce, it’s not easy to reach our daily nutrition and protein levels. Spirulina aims to fill this gap helping you use Spirulina shakes or smoothies to renergise any time of the day.I took it on gently, very unsure of what to expect, my initial ‘meeting’ face to face with the powder not very promising. Best to keep it natural and in season, as also too consume this in raw form, or if cooked, below 70Degrees C to gain maximum advantage. Seemed quite natural to begin the morning with a nutritional boost, so I thought smoothie. Green smoothie obviously!! With winter here, there are the juiciest apples from Kinnaur lining the bazaar shelves these days. Thought I’d keep it simple. So in went cucumber, honey, some coconut water since I had some on hand. The electrolytes in coconut water as a great substitute for plain water, so why ever not. Gingerly added 1 tsp of Spirulina and braced myself. I was pleasantly surprised!! The green jade came to life in seconds, an intense smooothie that looked like it meant business. A teeny taste later, and I threw in another teaspoon of Spirulina. No bad offsetting flavour, quite pleasant, naturally sweet too. Who would have thought?Spurred on, I experimented a little more. This Currypatta Buttermilk Lassi below is now a daily routine!
Spirulina added in your daily diet gives you a number of benefits:
Working out?? Grab it! It Increases Muscle Strength and Endurance
It is a powerhouse of easily digestible protein
It is a natural detoxifier
It’s rich in vitamins, antioxidants and other essential daily nutrients
It’s filled with calcium, phosphorus and magnesium content found in milk
It keeps your heart healthy
It promotes Liver health
Parrys Organic Spirulina is NOT a drug, but a 100% vegetarian and safe nutritional supplement also available in a tablet form for your convenience.
Happy with the success, I marched on to try yet another savoury version. It turned out quite pretty. Quite delicious as well! Here take a look. A Beetroot Buttermilk Spirulina Lassi as delicious as it was pretty! The recipe is simple. blend the following until smooth. 1 medium beetroot, microwaved for 3 minutes, or boiled, cooled, grated + 2 cloves garlic, grated + 250ml cultured buttermilk +1/2 tsp black rock salt + 1tsp roasted cumin powder + 2tsp spirulina.
Green Goddess Apple Cucumber Coconut Water Smoothie
The Green Goddess Apple Cucumber Coconut Water Smoothie comes together in seconds, an intense drink that means business. Quite pleasant; naturally sweet too!
Course Drinks
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Total Time 5 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
1applecored, diced
1cucumberchopped
200mlcoconut waterchilled
2-3tspshoney
2tspSpirulina
Instructions
Place all ingredients in blender and whiz until smooth.
Taste and adjust sweetness if required. Serve immediately.
“In fine, the truffle is the very diamond of gastronomy.” Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Smoked Eggplant Walnut Truffle Dip … earthy, rustic, nutty, slightly tangy, creamy, smoky delicious. Some things come together with small beginnings, and for strange reasons. This dip was no different and found it’s origins in a wizened old forgotten pomegranate that I discovered while cleaning out the fridge. Also popped out a bowl that held an eggplant I had roasted 2 days ago, a small carton of Greek yogurt, and the plan was made.
It was going to be a Smoked Eggplant Walnut Truffle Dip which would use up all the goodness that lay forgotten in the fridge. AND a chance to use some fabulous Black Truffle Sea Salt from Olive Tree Trading, a special product that really shines when used. It might be an expensive product, but a little goes a long way. On pasta, on toast, over dips, on artisan bread, in pasta sauce, over popcorn, on salads; really steps up the flavours!
With it of course some really really good quality extra virgin olive oil from the same company, a product that speaks for itself. As always, a dish is only as good as it’s ingredients and this Smoked Eggplant Walnut Truffle Dip was just that. You could always use sea salt but a black truffle sea salt is a noticeably charming addition, quite different. The rest of this Persian inspired dip has humble origins, almost staple pantry ingredients. How can you go wrong with eggplant {or baingan as locally called}, walnuts, garlic, yogurt and olive oil? Not possible right?
And the good thing is that if you blend it smooth, picky eaters can’t figure out what’s in this pâté like dip. It’s a win win; a delicious one at that too. Serve with wholegrain crackers, crudites etc. Great as a sandwich spread, with crusty wholegrain bread, etc.
A simple recipe with humble origins, this Smoked Eggplant Walnut Truffle Dip is a great addition to the party table. Serve with wholegrain crackers, crudites etc. Great as a sandwich spread, with rustic wholegrain bread, etc.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 50 minutesminutes
Servings 3minutes
Ingredients
1medium eggplant
6clovesgarlicunpeeled
1/2cupevoo
2clovesgarlc
Sea salt
1/4cupwalnuts
2tbspGreek yogurt
Juice of 1 lime
1/2tspBlack truffle sea salt
Instructions
Wash and pat dry the eggplant. Make 4-6 slits around and tuck in unpeeled garlic cloves.
Roast over a low open gas flame, or in oven until charred all over and soft.
Place in a bowl covered, until cool enough to handle. gently peel the charred skin off, squeeze out the garlic from pods. {This can be done a couple of days in advance and refrigerated}.
Place all ingredients in bowl of processor or blender and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Transfer to a bowl, drizzle generously with good quality extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle over some black truffle salt, garnish with pomegranate pearls. Serve with wholegrain crackers, crudites etc. Great as a sandwich spread, with rustic wholegrain bread, etc.
