Diwali Recap

I cant seem to believe that Diwali is already over. The best thing with Diwali this time was it coincided with the weekend and that made things easier. We had a lovely time with friends and family through all the days of Diwali.

I decided to invite some of girlfriends over for a Mehendi party. Mainly a get-together for all us chattery heads with some food and a way to tease our creative minds. Since it was a working day, I had my menu planned in advance and decided to make things that were quick and easy to prep. I made dhokla using an instant mix, pav bhaji as the main meal and cassata for desert. The combination was perfect for a fun evening where me the host had ample time to spend with my guests without worrying much about managing it. I got the cassata set the night before and only had to cut the slices in the afternoon. Sadly in all the excitement of having friends over, I didn't click any pictures of my food. But I would like to highlight that the cassata was tried based on this recipe by Nupur, on her lovely blog. I have made it twice so far and it is a crowd-pleaser for sure!

All through the Diwali weekend, we had get-togethers each evening, and I was cooking two out of three times. On the day of Laxmi Pujan, we had our close family over for puja and dinner and I went with an authentic Maharashtrian menu. We had Cauliflower-peas sautéed in spices, Kakadichi pachadi(Cucumber raita), Tomatoche Saar(Spiced Tomato Soup), Jeera rice (Rice seasoned with cumin), Chapatis and Dry-fruit Shrikhand.

I have made Shrikhand before the lazy way. i.e. not by running the sugar n yogurt mix through a sieve but just mixing it and that definitely doesn't add the much needed airiness to it. This time I went all aboard and made it the right away and it was devoured by everyone. Here's the recipe:

Dry-fruit Shrikhand

Ingredients:
2 cups greek yogurt (I used fat-free, any is fine, more fat means more creaminess. ;) )
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped dried fruit (pistachios, almonds, golden raisins)
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp green cardamon powder
4-5 strands saffron
1/4 cup milk (if needed)

• Warm the saffron in a 1 tbsp of milk so that it gives out its color.
• I prefer to use greek yogurt over the normal one, because it has less water content and gives a better creamy texture to the final product. We still do need to strain the excess water from it, I usually leave my yogurt tightly knotted in a muslin cloth hanging over a container to collect the excess water. Leave it straining for about 12-16 hrs. Refrigerate the yogurt until you are ready to make the Shrikhand.
• Use a seive (one with 1/2 cm or little small sized holes, not the fine mesh) and start mixing the yogurt and the sugar in batches. A 2:1 (yogurt:sugar) proportion fits really well for us, but if you like things very sweet you can add in more sugar. Pass all the yogurt and sugar through the seive and you should have small noodles of yogurt collected in your container.
• Add the nutmeg and cardamon powder and mix well. Add in the saffron with the milk and gently mix in the strands. I love having strands of saffron through the Shrikhand, they keep giving away more and more color just as if its a fading watercolor, looks lovely!
• Taste and if the shrikhand seems dry on the palate, add in little bit of milk and mix well. 
• You can mix in the nuts or as I did this time transfer the shrikhand to a container and garnish generously with the nuts. When you scoop out servings, the nuts will automatically mix in. Gives a nice look to the Shrikhand. Chill for 1 - 2 hrs and serve with roti, poori or have it just by itself!

Diwali isn't exactly over for us. I am performing in the local Maharashtra Mandal's celebration tomorrow here in San Diego. Yet another day of celebrating Diwali. ;)

Hope all of you are having a wonderful time with the holidays approaching us at a warp speed. Until next time..

Pumpkin Raita

Hello everyone! Today's post is going to be a short one with the recipe I intend to share before the month of October passes by and to remind myself and everyone that my online entity, my blog will fight to survive! :)
Time is passing by really quickly, I still feel summer ended just now and it ended in a high with us visiting the Yellowstone National Park. But we are already at the end of October!! None-the-less October marks the beginning of festivities and this month has been filled withe exciting things!

The Indian festival Navratri passed us at the beginning of this month and I got to spend it with my aunt and her family. I was truly pampered and ate yummy food all homemade for a whole week! :) With Dassera getting over the hype for Halloween was in the air and of course I had to pick up some pumpkin for myself! I haven't as yet ventured into pumpkin carving but I do certainly buy fresh pumpkin.

Everyone knows about pies, breads and various other desserts using pumpkin, but Indians eat pumpkin mostly in a savory way. I being a picky eater preferred eating it in only one way and that's the quick recipe I wanted to post today!

Pumpkin Raita (Bhopalyacha Bhareet)

1 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin

1 cup yogurt

1-2 green chilies 

3-4 curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

pinch of asafoetida (hing) 

1 tsp oil for tempering

salt to taste

• Peel and chop the pumpkin into cubes (inch size) or bigger if u don't want to mash it completely.
• Steam the pumpkin till it softens and is easy to mash. (usually 2 whistles for a pressure cooker)
• Mash the pumpkin and add in the yogurt and mix well. I like my pumpkin to be all smashed but I know my mom prefers to see pieces in her raita, so that it doesn't look like baby food. :P
• Add in the chillies and salt to taste. 
• Make the tempering by heating oil and adding in the mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric powder and asafoetida. Wait till the seeds splutter and add the tempering in the pumpkin mixture. Mix well and the raita is ready to eat! I usually served it with chapati, but goes well as a side with rice and dal too!

Hope you guys enjoy this recipe! Lots of exciting things in process and coming up and I am determined to share it with everyone and post more often! :)

Taro at its best!

I have been in a phase where I am cooking a lot and yet never get the right set of pictures to post about it! It is laziness at its best and yes I am guilty as charged! But today has become an exception! It is the taro recipe that compelled me to post about it! This stir fry recipe is a quick-fix dinner option that I make almost every 15 - 20 days. Yet to this date I haven't posted about it. I was compelled to do so because a cute old lady asked me what it was in the local Indian store when I picking up a batch for my weekly meals. She humbly asked me, "Is this used to make a sabji?" and I was truly surprised to know something so common for me was still unknown to many!

I was introduced to taro as a root vegetable right since I was a kid. The earliest memories are of me plucking taro leaves for my aunt from her frontyard to make a delicious stew out of it. Back in India, vegetarians end up consuming a lot of root veggies to make up for the much needed meatiness in the meal. Taro is literally just that. I like to think of it as a meat for the vegetarians! ;)

Sorry I forgot to get a picture of how it looks originally, but the web is filled with them! The wiki page surely has some good info on it.

This stir-fry is simple and is ready in no time! It is dry and hence goes really well as a side with just simple dal-rice or some hot phulkas! I love it so much that I can have a bowlful of it and in fact I have ideas for making it as an appetizer, all that meatiness would surely go well with a nice cold margarita or a beer!

Arvi chi bhaji (Taro Stir-fry)
Ingredients:
6-8 med. sized taro root (2-3 inches long)
1 tsp Ajwain seeds
1 tsp Turmeric power
0.5 tsp Asafoetida powder
1.5 tsp Red chili powder
2 tsp Coriander-cumin powder
1.5 tsp Amchur (dry mango powder)
1 tsp Mustard seeds for tempering
2-3 Curry leaves
2 -3 tbsp Oil to stir-fry
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander to garnish

Boiled taro root

• Boil the taro just like you would boil a potato. I usually do this in a pressure cooker and let it steam for about 4 whistles. Once boiled and cooled, peel the taro skin and chopped it into 1 inch pieces. 
• Use a non-stick pan to be able to handle the stickiness of the taro with minimal trouble. Add oil to the pan and once heated add the mustard seeds and the curry leaves. Once the seeds crackle,  add the turmeric powder and asafoetida. Once these are cooked in the oil, add in the rest of the spices. We add all the spices into the tempering so that it coats the taro uniformly.
• Once all the spices are cooked add the taro pieces and let it saute well on med-high heat. Once the edges of the taro start to brown season with salt and add the lime juice. Garnish with coriander and serve with some hot phulkas!

It is a root that you would feel a little awkward to pick up considering its muddy hairy look along with the sticky texture it gets once steamed. But my humble request to all of you will be please look beyond that! It's a delicious root and really quick to work with especially in these hot summer months!
Until next time..

Bake Sale Recap

It has been a really busy month! Its already a week since the bake sale was over and finally its today that I get to post about it. This was my second time at the bake sale and I had a much better idea of what I need to do and what to expect. With the given time constraints I decided to make simpler items this time but took a risk of making two of them.

Continuing with the last years theme of French desserts I decided to make Palmiers this time. The idea struck when I saw a steady stream of people buying them at the local grocery store. When I looked up the recipe, I was astonished to find how simple it is to make them! I used this recipe which I felt gave the simplest illustration for the steps to make them.

Here are my tweaks to the recipe:

• I only used a total of 1/4 cup of sugar for the whole pastry sheet. 
• I bought the Pepperfridge farm's pastry sheets. Since they are packed in a 3-fold, I split the sheets on the same folds which in turn made it easier to cut them into pieces. 
• I used milk instead of egg wash to seal the palmiers. 

I made the palmiers in two flavors - cinnamon-sugar & passion-fruit jam filled. I initially planned on making sweet and savory kind, but the savory ones tasted better when served warm. The only thing I missed through the whole prep was I forgot to click pictures of palmiers in prep. :(

I also made chocolate coated marzipan candies for the sale. I originally made Marzipan candies for Valentines day for my husband and never got around to posting about them. I love marzipan! Making it at home is quite simple and the homemade one tastes really good! I coated them with semi-sweet chocolate and added dried fruits on some to make it an assorted set. 

I used the cooked marzipan recipe available here and tempered the chocolate using these instructions. 

And finally below are some clicks from the bake sale! Loved the cupcakes towers and all the cute cookies! So much fun!

A fresh new look for the season

Its been almost two months since my last post, but the meal planning has been consistent. I have now set myself into an almost regular schedule that includes workouts, dance classes and reading books! Of course that leaves me with very little time for blogging and hence that is something I need to get aligned with my schedule. Today's post is really a catch up with my readers to let you guys know what I have been up to. :)

With the onset of spring, I have managed to get the pantry re-organized, made a quick coupon organizer and finally got back to learning Bharatnatyam. Last weekend was finally devoted to my blog and the result is surely visible. The blog now offers a neater look and hopefully makes it easier to read. There are still a good list of things I want to do on the blog, but for now this is a good start.

With parents visiting us, life has become a true roller-coaster! My kitchen has been yanked into full swing with lots of authentic and experimental dishes I want my parents to try. Today's recipe is about a very Maharashtrian dish specially made on a day of fasting. Its yet another creation by someone who decided to mix up dishes with different textures to make a delicious combination. There are various versions of this recipe available online, the closest one that I liked is on the Chakali blog available here. What none of the blogs really had was some good clicks, explaining the creation of the mix. So here you go:

That's all for today's post, of course this week is surely going to turn into one of busiest for this season especially with the bake sale coming up next week. An update on that will be coming up shortly! So for now have a good night everyone.