Nut & Choco Flowers

One afternoon, I was sitting in my recliner, munching on trail mix and reading a book when I remembered that I had some almonds and cashews that have been sitting in the fridge for a while. I wanted to do something with it...and then came a thought..why not chop the nuts and pour chocolate on them? How bad can the combination get, right? So here is what I did. I roasted a handful of nuts, chopped them and kept them aside. I melted chocolate in a double boiler and poured it over the nuts. I wanted to roll them into balls but the unevenly chopped nuts would not hold the shape.

So, for the next batch, I powdered the nuts in a coffee grinder and then added the melted chocolate to it. This time it worked out right. I rolled them into small balls, coated them with dried grated coconut and voila, my first batch of home made chocolates were ready.

To get a fancier shape, my husband had a brilliant idea. We bought a flower shaped ice tray and set the chocolate in it.             And the results..nut & choco flowers! You can of course use your favourite dried fruits. I am sure any combination will be the right combination for this!!!

Paneer Curry with Hunt's Tomato Sauce

Living in a hotel has its plus and minus points. On one hand, I don't have to bother about dusting, cleaning etc...while on the other hand I have to keep finding recipes that don't need any grinding and powdering, as I don't have my mixie/blender and other gadgets with me. This was when I thought of using store bought tomato sauce for making gravy for a paneer curry. The result was really nice and we had it with rotis. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

¾ cup (or more if you please) - Paneer cubes

1 8oz can - Hunt's tomato sauce

½ - Medium sized onion finely chopped

1 Big clove - Garlic, finely chopped (optional)

¼ cup - Chopped Vegetables (I used asparagus and capsicum)

½ tsp - Turmeric powder

1 tbsp - Oil
Chili powder to taste

Salt to taste

Water

Method

Boil water in a vessel and add the paneer cubes to it. Take it off the heat and leave the paneer pieces in the water for 15 minutes. This makes the paneer softer and more absorbent.

Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions and garlic. Sauté till the onion is slightly brown and add the chopped vegetables. I chose asparagus and capsicum just for the colour contrast with the red tomato sauce. You could also use green peas, potatoes, cauliflower etc. 

Sauté the vegetables for a couple minutes and add the tomato sauce. Add salt, turmeric and chillie powders, mix well. Add water and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the paneer cubes and let it simmer for another ten minutes. In case the gravy feels thick, add more water. Once all the flavours have mingled well, take it off the stove, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rotis/nan. Bon Appétit

Mango Srikhand

Continuing the sweet trend, here is the recipe for Mango Srikhand. I have always liked srikhand, but had never made it until last week. Recently, I had homemade mango srikhand at a friend's place and was really impressed with its taste and texture. I liked the recipe even more, it was super simple.  

When I told my mother about this, she said she used to make it this way, years ago. Anyway, here is the recipe. 

Ingredients

2 cups - Plain yogurt (preferably slightly sour)

¼ cup (+ more to taste) - Sugar

1 cup (+ more to get right taste and texture) - Mango pulp

Note - These proportions are approximate. Please adjust according to your taste.  

Method

Place yogurt in a clean kitchen towel/hand kerchief, tie and hang it up so that the whey drips out completely (hanging it overnight works perfectly). Once all the liquid has drained, remove the solids from the towel into a bowl. Add sugar and whisk till it becomes smooth. To this, add the mango pulp. I used store bought, sweetened pulp, you can of course use fresh pulp. If you are using sweetened pulp, taste before adding more sugar. Mix well till it has a thick creamy consistency. 

Be careful while adding the pulp, as adding too much will make the srikhand watery. I added the pulp spoon by spoon while mixing between each addition to make sure the consistency was maintained. Once it reaches the desired taste, refrigerate and serve cold.

Mango Srikhand

In Maharashtra (an Indian state), people eat srikhand with pooris (recipe given below), for breakfast. I personally do not like the combination, but feel free to try it. Also, you can try substituting the mango pulp with different flavours like cardamom, saffron, pistachio etc.

 Poori (deep fried Indian bread)

Ingredients

Wheat flour

Water

Oil – a tsp for kneading + more for deep frying

Salt – a pinch

Method

In a large mixing bowl, mix wheat flour, salt, oil and water to make a thick ball of dough (if the dough feels sticky, add more flour). Make small lemon sized balls of dough and roll out into discs with a rolling pin. Deep fry in hot oil. These puffed up wheat breads are called pooris. Enjoy!!!

Kesar (Saffron) Srikhand