Chocolate Arrowroot Biscuit Rolls

This is a recipe I came across in Sanjeev Kapoors site. I had a Nutrichoice Arrowroot biscuit packet lying at home and accidentally came across this recipe. It would make a quick and yummy treat for christmas.

Ingredients:

For the dough/outer covering:

• Arrowroot biscuits- 12
• Powdered sugar - 2 tablespoon
• Cocoa powder - 1 tablespoon
• Milk - as needed ( around 1 to 2 tbsp)

For the filling:

• Dessicated coconut - 1 cup
• Cocoa powder - 2tbsp
• Powdered sugar 3 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2tsp
• Vanilla essence - 1tsp
• Butter - 2tbsp

Method:

1. To prepare the dough, powder the biscuits in mixie. Add the powdered biscuits, sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl. Add milk little by little and form a soft dough.

2. For the filling, mix all the ingredients under "for the filling" section in another bowl.

3. Spread a clean plastic cover/sheet (if you have have a cling wrap it would be more easy), I didnt have cling wrap so used a clean plastic cover. Grease it with some butter and roll the dough with the chapathi roller pin to a rough circle.

4. Spread the filling in the middle and press down a little. Now start rolling from the top to bottom (along with the sheet) and form a cylinder. Roll it a bit tight. Seal the edges by tying a knot.

5. Pop it in the freezer for 2 hrs. Take it out, release the edges and remove the plastic sheet. Cut into circular slices and serve!.

Notes:

• Take care to ensure mixie is dry before powdering the biscuits.
• The original recipe calls for 3tbsp cocoa in the filling and 2 tbsp in the dough. I made the filling with 3 tbsp but it seemed to have the bitterness of cocoa. So I have given it as 2 tbsp here. Just add 2 tbsp and if its not enough add more after tasting. I used weikfield cocoa powder.
• Add milk little by little. Adjust as per requirement.
• You can add chopped nuts in the filling too.

#KidsDelightChocoGiveaway

linking this to Kids delight event link1 and 2

Kozhi Milagu Curry/ Chicken Pepper Curry

Today being a Sunday, that too after the vegetarian days of Purataasi month and Navaratri, I decided to cook non veg. I saw this recipe in Chef Venkatesh Bhat's cookshow. It was quite simple and looked tempting. He also mentioned it as Superstar Rajnikanth's favorite ;-). I usually love pepper flavour and my husband is a big fan of chicken. So, this dish was a super hit today.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 400 gms

2. Big onion - 2 medium size(chopped)

3. Tomato - 2 small (chopped)

4. Ginger garlic paste- 1 &1/2tsp

5. Chilli powder - 1tsp

6. Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp

7. Coriander powder - 1tsp

8. Salt - as needed

9. Curry leaves - about half a fistful

10. Oil - 1&1/2 tbsp

To roast and powder:

1. Peppercorns/Milagu - a fistful

2. Fennel seeds/Sombu - about 1/3 of the pepper

Dry roast these two ingredients and make it a fine powder in mixie.

Method:

1. Clean and wash the chicken well.

2. In a wide bottomed vessel, heat oil, add the finely chopped onion and fry till it is golden brown (till when it starts caramelizing). There is a mild sweetness to the dish which is rendered by the onion.

3. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell leaves.

4. Add the tomato and saute till the raw smell vanishes and add in the curry leaves and stir. Curry leaves always go very well with pepper flavour.

5. Add in the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt and mix well. Add in the chicken and mix well with the masala.

6. Add 1 and 1/2 to 2 tsp (as per your taste) of the ground pepper and fennel powder and stir well. Add around 1/2 cup water.

7. Let it boil till the chicken is cooked and the gravy reaches a semi dry consistency. Do not add more water else the consistency will not be reached and if you let it boil for long time there is a chance of chicken being overcooked. Winner combination with all Indian breads and hot rice and rasam!.

Multigrain Atta Halwa/Atta Halwa/Godhumai Halwa- with Jaggery

This is one of the easiest and healthiest sweets to make. I referred the recipe from divinetaste.com. In that website the halwa was made using wheat flour. But I had only aashirvad multigrain atta at home. However, I decided to give it a try and I just loved the result. The dish has a mild sweetness and is so tasty. Healthy too with the goodness of grains and jaggery.

There are two important things to note in this recipe. Its a very easy to make sweet but you have to do these two steps with care. The first one is the roasting part of the flour. It has to be done continuously atleast for 9 to 10 or 11 mins in low flame. Take care not to burn it. However, the color will change darker. If you do not roast the flour for an ample time, you will get a floury taste in the dish and it will be uncooked.

Second, is while pouring the jaggery syrup, you should be careful avoiding splatters on yourself but you should also assure there are no lumps formed by constant stirring.

 Ingredients:

1. Multigrain Atta/Wheat flour- 3/4 cup
2. Jaggery, powdered -3/4 cup
3. Water - 1 and 1/2 cup
4. Cardamom crushed - 2 or 3
5. Ghee - 3tbsp + 1tsp for toasting nuts
6. Salt - tiny pinch(optional)
7. Nuts ( I used badam) - for garnish

Method:

1. Heat the powdered jaggery with 1 and 1/2 cup water in a pan. Dont let it boil, Strain and set aside.(It will be a runny syrup only not to worry).

2. In a non stick kadai, heat the ghee till it melts. Add the flour and roast it on low heat. As mentioned earlier, you will get a toasted aroma and you will notice the color of the flour gets darker. This takes 10 or 11 mins.

3. Now, add the cardamom powder and a tiny pinch of salt (it is optional, in sweets a tiny pinch of salt enhances the flavour and sweetness). and give a quick stir.

4. Now add the jaggery syrup carefully stirring continuously to avoid lumps and be careful to avoid splatter. I used my ballon whisk.

5. You will see it all comes together very soon to a mass of halwa consistency, so you have to act very fast when adding the syrup.

6. Toast nuts with ghee and add it to the halwa. Serve and enjoy!.

Notes:

• The above quantity is sufficient for 4 people. Do not be carried away by the minimal amount of flour when roasting. You can see how it miraculously doubles up on adding the syrup.
• The dish has a mild sweetness which I loved. If you like your sweetness to be on the higher side, increase the jaggery and water accordingly. 

Ragi Sweet Balls/ Ragi Inipu Urundai

This is a very simple recipe that I saw in aval vikatan magazine. It can be made in a jiffy once you keep all the ingredients ready. It is a very nutritious recipe too since it contains ragi and jaggery and both are rich in iron. It just melts in your mouth. Even kids will love it.

Ingredients:

1. Ragi flour - 1 cup
2. Jaggery (powdered, I used achu vellam)- 1cup
3. Cashew - 10 to 12 broken
4. Cardamom powder - 1/2tsp
5. Ghee- just to grease hands

Method:

             1. In a kadai, dry roast the ragi flour in medium low or low flame. This is the most important step. It needs to be roasted till a nice fragrance arises. Take care not to burn the flour by stirring continuously. If the flour is not properly roasted you will get a uncooked flour taste in your balls. Transfer the roasted flour in a wide bowl.

            2.  Simultaneously, heat powdered jaggery along with little water just to immerse the jaggery till 3/4 level. Once the jaggery dissolves switch off the stove after a single boil. Strain the syrup and set aside.

           3.  Add the broken cashews and cardamom to the flour and mix well. Add the jaggery syrup little by little till you are able to form a big ball with the dough. You need to make sure there is no lumps formed in this step.

          4.  Grease your hands with little ghee and form small balls with the dough. Enjoy the tasty nutritious balls!

Banjara Gosht/Mutton curry in Gypsy Style

While I was browsing for mutton curry recipes to prepare for the weekend, I came across this recipe from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's website. It was so delicious and lip smacking. Its has such a simple procedure too.

Ingredients:

• Mutton- 350gm
•  Bay leaves -2
• Cloves -2
• Peppercorns - 5
• Dry red chilli -3
• Onion sliced - 1
• Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1tbsp
• Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
• Yogurt - 2tsp
• Salt -as needed
• Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp
• Coriander seeds crushed - for garnish

Method:

1. Cook mutton for 3 whistles in medium flame( or till half cooked) with salt and enough water. Drain and reserve the stock(mutton cooked water).

2. Heat oil in the cooker, add the bay leaf, cloves, broken red chillis and peppercorns. Saute for a minute.

3. Add the sliced onions, saute till translucent.

4. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute til raw smell leaves.

5. Add the red chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder and saute for 2 mins.

6. Add the half cooked mutton and mix well. Now add the mutton stock and pressure cook for 4 or more whistles on medium flame till it is cooked well. 

7.Open the lid and adjust salt. whisk yogurt separately and add in the gravy stirring well. Just give it a single boil and switch off.

8. Garnish with crushed coriander seeds and serve with hot steamed rice!.

Notes:

• You can cook the gravy in pan too but it takes quite sometime. So if you are patient enough you can go for it :).

Baby Corn Milagu Varuval/Baby Corn Pepper Fry

This is a recipe I saw in Chef Venkatesh Bhat's cookery show and is a wonderful snack. Its specially good to eat in rainy weather. If you love pepper flavour then this is for you.

Ingredients:

•  Baby Corn - roughly chopped (2 cups)
•  Rice flour - 1 and 1/2 tsp (see notes below)
•  Corn flour - 3/4 tsp (see notes below)
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1tsp
•  Pepper powder - 2 tsp
•  Curry leaves - few
•  Freshly ground pepper - 1tsp (for garnish)
•  Salt -as needed
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Method:

1. Chop baby corn roughly. First we need to parboil the baby corn. To do this take about 3 to 4 cups of water in a vessel and let it boil. Then add baby corn with a pinch of salt and let it boil for about 3 minutes.

2. Strain the water, take the baby corn, rice flour, corn flour, pepper powder, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste along with it. Mix well. Finely chop curry leaves and mix well such that the curry leaves stick to the corn. Let this marinate for 10 to 15 mins.

3. Once marinated, heat oil in pan, and fry the baby corn till golden brown. Since we have already parboiled the baby corn, once it turns golden brown we can take it out. It will be very crisp. Drain in tissue paper and add freshly ground pepper on top. Serve hot!.

Notes:

• The corn flour and rice flour quantity should be in such a way that the pepper and curry leaves stick well to the corn. Adjust accordingly. Dont add too much also. 

               

• Adding freshly ground pepper towards the end gives a great flavour. I just used my mortar and pestle to make the freshly ground pepper for garnish.
• Curry leaves and pepper are a great combo.
• Always serve hot.

Gulab Jamun with Milk Powder

Gulab Jamun has always been my favourite sweet from childhood. These lovely balls make my mouth water whenever I see them in sweet shops. However, my favourite is what my Amma makes. Though she makes from a store bought mix, she makes it so perfectly that they melt in mouth instantly. When I was small, she used to make for my birthdays and diwali and I used to just relish them. Now after marriage, I tried the same store bought mix and got perfect results. But I have always wanted to try gulab jamun using homemade mix. I browsed the internet and got a recipe using milk powder. But my first attempt at the jamuns using milk powder turned out very hard :(. I was very disappointed.

However I got the courage to make them once again. This time I used a recipe I had saved long ago in a word document and the results were just perfect. I was so happy and even my husband loved it a lot. So here is the recipe. Just follow it exactly and you will get perfect results. Read the notes section for the hints to get the perfect jamun.

Ingredients:

• Milk powder - 1/2 cup
• Maida/all purpose flour - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1/4 cup (if needed add more or less. )
• Baking soda - 1/4tsp
• Oil and ghee(if using) - as required to deep fry

For the sugar syrup:

• Sugar - 1.5 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Rose essence - 3 to 4 drops

Method:

1. Mix milk powder, maida and baking soda in a wide bowl.

2. Add milk gradually and gather to form a dough. The dough will be sticky but soft. Just knead very slightly for 1 min or so. Do not over knead or knead too hard.

3. Now we can start making the sugar syrup. In a heavy bottomed vessel, take the sugar and water and boil it for few mins. Maybe for 8 mins in medium low flame. 

4. Once the sugar syrup is done, switch off and add rose essence. Heat oil in kadai, Grease your hands with little ghee and make smooth and small balls out of the dough. Deep fry them keeping the flame in low. Roll them gently to cook evenly.

5.  Cook 5 to 6 balls at a time till deep golden brown and drain them and add it to the hot sugar syrup. Wait atleast 1 hr or 2 hrs so that the jamuns absorb the sugar syrup well. Enjoy your jamuns!.

Notes:

• Dont knead the dough too much.
• Always fry the jamuns in low flame or medium flame maximum so that insides also get evenly cooked. The oil should be hot enough to cook the jamuns but not too hot as to burn them. If the oil temp is very low in between increase to medium if required.
• You can add cardamom powder instead of rose essence. Also some nuts in sugar syrup if preferred.
• The most important thing while shaping the jamuns is that the balls should be smooth without any cracks. If there are cracks the balls will open up on frying.
• Also, another thing to note is that, the balls should be shaped small as they increase in size when they absorb the syrup. Almost double. You can see the difference in size in the last two pics.
• You can also use ghee and oil in 50:50 ratio for frying. It sure adds extra taste. I always do it like that. 
• Give minimum 1 hr standing time.

Banana Appam/ Vazhaipazha appam/Banana Paniyaram

I saw this recipe in Dinakaran newspaper and wanted to give it a try. I dont like bananas yet wanted to try this as this was made with wheat flour and jaggery and seemed to be a very healthy recipe.

In the original recipe they had deep fried the appam but I wanted to reduce the calories in it so made it in paniyaram pan. The appams were so soft and spongy with a very nice banana flavour. Even the banana hater like me loved it. Tastes best when served hot.

Ingredients:

• Banana - 1
• Jaggery/Vellam - 1/2 cup
• Wheat flour/Godhumai maavu - 1 cup
• Rice flour/Arisi maavu - 1 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 pinch
• Cooking soda - 1/4tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Milk (optional) - 2tsp
• Oil/Ghee - as needed
• Water - as needed

Method:

1. Heat kadai, dissolve jaggery in 1/4 cup of water till it dissolves. Strain in a vessel to remove impurities.

 

2. Mash the banana well and add it to the strained jaggery syrup and mix well. Add the flours, soda,salt,cardamom powder and mix well.

3. Add the milk if using, and enough water to make a thick batter.

 

4. Heat paniyaram pan, apply ghee/oil on the moulds (I used ghee). Add a tbsp of batter to each of the moulds and cover the pan. Cook for about 2 mins till nicely browned and flip and cook without closing for another 1 or 2 mins till completely cooked. Do this on low medium flame for the inside to get cooked well.

Notes:

• You can also deep fry the appams.
• Ghee sure gives a nice flavour.

Chettinad Fish Fry/ Chettinad Meen Varuval

I came across this recipe in a Chettinad cookbook which my dad presented me. It came out good so sharing it here.The specialty of this dish is that it has a crispy outer layer to it. Gives a nice twist to our usual fish fry.

Ingredients:

• Fish (Vanjaram/Seer fish) - 1/2 kg
• Chilli powder - 2tsp
• Kuzhambu masala thool- 1 and 1/2tsp
• Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
• Salt - as needed
• Lime juice - 1 tsp

To roast and grind:

• Channa dal - 1.5tsp
• Urad dal - 1.5 tsp
• Mustard/Kadugu - 1tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Red chillies - 2
• Pepper - 1tsp

Method:

1. Clean and the fish thoroughly.

2. In a bowl, add the chilli powder, kuzhambu masala thool, turmeric powder,salt , lime juice and make a thick paste. Add water if needed to make the paste.

3. Marinate the cleaned fish with the masala paste. Let it rest for 1 hr minimum.

4. Dry roast the ingredients under 'To roast and grind'. Grind to a coarse powder.

5. Take the marinated fish. Coat the fish with the powder prepared from the previous step.

6. Heat oil in the pan, place the fish and cook on low flame on both sides till nicely browned and well cooked. Cooking in low flame gives a crispy layer to the fish. 

7. Do not keep on turning the fish as it may tear the layer sticking to it.

Easy Chocochip cookies and Whipped Cream Dessert

This is one of the dessert ideas which you can make within ten minutes if you have 3 ingredients in hand. Chocochip cookies, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

I had baked some chocochip cookies and had 4 or 5 left. I had bluebird whipping powder packet in hand so thought of this idea. The outcome was really great and I got the feeling of eating an icecream with chocolate and nuts. :). This would be a delight for kids as well as for guests. It is very simple yet very tasty.

            

Ingredients:

• Chocochip cookies - 4 or 5 ( more if you have small sized ones. Mine were quite big)
• Chocolate syrup - as needed ( I used hersheys brand)
• Blue bird whipping cream powder - 50g.
• Ice cold water - 1/4 cup for making whipped cream

Method:

1. Crumble the cookies. Beat the whipping cream powder and ice cold water until soft peaks form. It is just a layered dessert so soft peaks will be sufficient.

       2. In a glass, start assembling the dessert. Place some whipped cream, then some cookie crumble and drizzle some chocolate syrup. Repeat till you reach the rim of the glass.
       3. Garnish as per your preference. I just drizzled some choco syrup and placed a cherry for 1 glass and dusted some cocoa powder and choco syrup for the other.
       4. Place in refrigerator for half an hr or till chilled. Serve!.

Notes:

• The above dessert can be modified as per your tastes. For example, if you have leftover chocolate cake you can use them instead of the cookies, you can add chopped fruits as a layer, or even jam. You can even add nuts of your choice.So let your imagination fly :)
• My cream layer was bigger as I do not like too much crunchiness. So if you want your dessert to be more crunchy make the cookie layer big.
• If you plan to use the whipped cream later, refrigerate till use.