Time to celebrate!

I am feeling so good about writing this post. Its my 25th post! yay! The first recipe is quiet special, especially because I learnt this one from my mother-in-law! I spent most of January with my in-laws and I got to enjoy a new cuisine which wasn't very different than the food I grew up eating but it was more rather an adaptation of a cuisine to locally available ingredients. To top that my mother-in-law is an excellent cook who also enjoys experimenting with recipes so I have been lucky to have her around me! :) I am in food heaven! :D

My in-laws come from the central region of India which is majorly dry and mostly warm. The cuisine is quite rich and bursting with spices. I can't begin to list and describe all the different dishes I tried out, I could go on for days! So after a few weeks of being back in the US, I of course started to reminisce about all the yummy things I had and to end that craving I was set on recreating some of them.

The first one that came to my mind was the Baingan Bharta (Eggplant curry). It was one friday night when I realized that I had all the required ingredients to make it and decided that my weekend would start with a delicious dinner! I have made this dish quite frequently but not in this way! So here goes:

Baingan Bharta (Eggplant curry)

Ingredients:
1 Large eggplant ( the big sized ones usually used in Italian dishes too)
2-3 medium spring onions chopped
2-3 green chillies split vertically
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp vegetable / canola / EVOO oil
1/2 tsp asafoetida (optional)
1.5 tsp coriander-cumin powder
1 tbsp lime juice
salt to taste
cilantro for garnish

• Roast the eggplant in the oven or on the gas flame. Its done when the skin starts peeling off. Once roasted, peel the skin off the eggplant, separate off the flesh from the head of the eggplant and mash it well.
• Heat some oil in a pan. Add in the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add in the asafoetida followed by the chillies and garlic. Once the chillies are almost fried, add the spring onions and let them cook well. 
• When the onions become transparent, add in the eggplant and mix well. Add in the lime juice, coriander-cumin powder and adjust the salt to your taste. Let the whole mixture come together, it becomes like a slushy mass. Season with cilantro. Enjoy with hot chapatis!

We had it with some home-made garlic chutney, sliced raddishes and chapatis! yumm!

Now to celebrate my 25th post and the International Women's day, here is the recipe of the roasted plum and peach ice-cream I tried out, inspired from this recipe posted by Deeba on her lovely blog! I of course tried to give it a healthy twist.

Roasted plum and peach ice-cream (low-fat) (eggless)

Ingredients:

4  plums

2 peaches

1.5 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup roasted almonds coarsely chopped

250 gms low-fat greek yogurt

200 ml half-n-half

4 tbsp sugar

6-8 tbsp honey - adjust the honey based on the sweetness that you like

• Preheat the oven to 375 F.
• Combine sugar and vanilla. Arrange the peaches & plums skin side down on a baking tray and sprinkle with the vanilla/ sugar mixture. Grill in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top of the peaches appear caramelized.
• Remove the skin from the peaches as soon as it is cool enough to do so. Puree the peaches and any juices in the baking tray in a blender.
• In a separate bowl combine the half-n-half, greek yogurt and peach/plum puree. Adjust sugar as required. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. About 5 minutes before switching off the machine, add in the chopped nuts. Refrigerate for about 2 hours and serve! 

Hope all you lovely ladies out there had a great Women's day! Also here is to hoping that I get to write many more blogs!