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Creative saga...

September 04, 2008
23:30
Apricot jelly!!!
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I love apricots and add them in most of my cakes and pudddings. When I came across this recipe to make apricot jelly, it sounded very interesting. I made it and was over in no time. My hubby who is not too fond of dried apricots as it is liked the taste of the jelly. It can be served with cakes and icecreams . This is another one from Margaret's recipe book.So here's the recipe.

Ingredients-
Dried apricots- 250g(soaked overnight)
lemon juice- 1tbspn
Honey- 1 1/2 tbspn
Gelatine - 3tsp soaked in 3tbspn water

Method-
Place the apricots in a pan with the liquid in which they were soaked,adding more water if necessary to cover. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender.
Place the apricots and liquid in blender with lemon juice and honey and blend unti very smooth. Add water to make up 3 cups if necesary.
Place the gelatin in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until dissolved .Stir into the apricot mixtue.
Pour into jelly mould and chill until set.
Dip the mould quickly into hot water to loosen and turn out onto a serving dish.
Serve chill as it is or with icecream and cakes.
September 03, 2008
23:30
Spinach layer pancakes
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Weekends are most difficult days for me. I am always in a fix on what to cook for dinner. I want to just relax during the weekends and I wish there was someone to cook for me. But I find myself spending a lot of time in the kitchen , yet till dinner time , nothing is cooked.
Last sunday, I made this pancakes for dinner. They tasted great. It did not take a very long time, yet they were quite filling and a healthy one too!!!I took the recipe from Margaret fulton's wholefood cooking.

Ingredients-
Pancake batter
Wholemeal flour- 1cup
egg-1 beaten
Milk- 1 1/4 cup
Oil- 1tbspn

Filling-
Spinach- 3 cups chopped
egg- 1 beaten
Salt and pepper
(you can also add cottage cheese according to the original recipe. But I did not have it)

To finish
Grated cheese- 1/2 cup

Method-
Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the egg, then gradually stir in half the milk and oil . Beat thoroughly until smooth . Add the remaining milk.
Heat a pan and add few drops of oil.Pour in 1 tablespoon of the batter and tilt the pan to coat the batter evenly. Cook till the underside is brown then turn over and cook for further 10 seconds. Repeat the same with the remaining batter to make 10 to 12 pancakes.
Cook the spinach in another pan with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes. Then add the egg and cottage cheese if you are adding it. Add required salt and pepper. Mix thorougly.
Place a pancake on a heatproof plate. Spread some filling and cover with another pancake . Continue layering. Sprinkle some grated cheese on the top. Cook in a preheated moderately hot oven at 180c for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve immediately as a main dish.

As this contains Spinach,cheese, and milk which are quite rich in calcium , I am sending it to Sangeeth's Eat healthy-Calcium rich event.
September 02, 2008
23:00
Modak/Kozhakattai for Ganesh Chathurthi!!!
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I thought of blogging about my modaks today itself though I was a bit busy as well as tired. We did not have a elaborate pooja. I and my one year old kid celebrated ganesh chathurthi doing a Ganapati arti and neivedyam .
Traditionally in Tamilnadu, the modaks or kozhakattais are made by stuffing the poornam in processed rice flour and steaming it. But the laborious process was difficult for me to manage along with the kid. So I made by the easier version though this was also a bit time consuming. It tasted good. So here is how I made them.

Ingredients-
Outer cover-
Plain flour/maida- 1cup
salt- 1tsp
ghee- 1tsp

Stuffing/poornam/puran -
Grated coconut- 1cup
Jaggery- 1cup
Cardamom powder- 1tsp
Grated nutmeg-a small pinch
Milk- 1cup
Ghee- 1tbspn
Oil for deep frying

Method-
Make a smooth dough with the flour adding salt and ghee with some water. Keep it aside.
Now for the stuffing preperation, heat a heavy bottomed pan. Add jaggery and stir till it liquifies. Now add grated coconut, cardamon powder ,nutmeg. Mix well. Take care, it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Now add milk. Keep stirring till it thickens adding ghee in between.
Now make small balls with the dough. Roll each ball into a small circle. Keep the sweet stuffing in the center and seal from the top as shown in the picture below.
Repeat the same with all the balls. Deep fry them to a golden colour.
I am sending this to Purva and priti who are hosting the Indian festive food event!!
1:17
Jayashree's microwaved potatoes and zebra cake revisited!!!
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When I saw the recipe of this tandoori aloo snack in Jayashree's blog, it surely sounded delicious. I had a bag of baby potatoes sitting in my kitchen for almost a week, so I decided to go ahead with her recipe. It was quite delicious and was over in no time. You can find the recipe in Jayashree's blog under the name of tandoori aloo or Microwavi aloo as she calls it!!!I followed the same recipe ,just added a little chaat powder to the marinade.

When I made the zebra cake last time,it surely came out very nice.It was spongy , moist ,soft and tasted great. But I couldn't get the perfect zebra stripes. Divya of easycooking asked me to use a smaller spoon to layer the cake batter in the tin. And this tip helped me and did the trick this time. When I tried the cake again yesterday, it came out really good and I got the perfect stripes. You can see the picture below. And the recipe for the cake here.

While on the sweet note, Divya has passed me the "blogging friends forever award." Thanks a lot Divya. I am honoured to have a sweet friend like you.
August 31, 2008
22:41
Victoria Sandwich Cake
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This month's bake at sweet and simple bakes was Victoria Sandwich cake. It is a timeless classic cake and the history behind the name of the cake is quite fascinating. As stated here , this cake was made popular in the Victorian times in the U.K. and named after Queen Victoria as her majesty was very fond of this particular cake.
Basically,in this cake, it consists of two sponges sandwiched together with a jam and castor sugar sprinkled on the top.
You can find the recipe here. I made exactly according to it. And used mixed fruit jam as that was available with me and I like the taste of it. I did not use buttercream icing. Maybe I will try using the next time I make this cake. I just added a thin layer of whipped cream above the jam.
The cake tasted great and was over in no time. It was quite easy baking this one and required less time too. Even my one year old loved it and wanted a big piece.:)

Thanks Rosie and Marie for posting this one. It was great. Looking forward for the next bake.
I have updated my craft blog with shirt painting. Do have a look in case you are interested!!
August 29, 2008
7:10
Mungbean sprout rolls!!
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I had bought these pastry sheets long time ago and it was lying in my freezer waiting to be thawed and used. I had a number of ideas on using them, but somehow never managed to find time.
Atlast yesterday, When I had the mung dal(green gram) sprouts, I thought of stuffing them in sheets. It came out good and tasted nice too.So here's how I made them.
Ingredients-Mung bean(green gram)-1cup sproutedOnion-1 finely choppedgingergarlic paste-1tspChilly powder- 1tspsalt to tastegaram masala- 1tspPastry sheets- 10Oil- 1tsp
Method-Heat oil in a pan. Add ginger garlic paste. Saute and then add the onions and stir till it becomes translucent. Then add the sprouts. Add chilly powder, garam masala and salt and saute till everything mixes and the sprouts cook well. Keep the sprouts mixture in the centre of pastry sheets and seal them with cornstarch mixed in water.Brush them with little oil.Arrange them on cookie tray lined with baking sheet. Bake them at 180c for 30 minutes.Serve hot with ketchup.
I am sending this to Hima who is hosting an event called "Sunday snacks"the theme being "bake it".
I am also sending my "bread custard pudding" for the same event.
And on the sweet note,Sireesha of moms recipes has passed me the "good job award". Thanks a lot Sireesha. I like to pass this one to Sukanya,Priti,Usha,Kitchen flavours,Purva,sangeeth,Divya,SMN.
August 28, 2008
2:01
Baingan Masala
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After almost a week of heavy rains here, today its bit sunny. The rains and cold weather had made me really lazy and I found myself relaxing more than I wanted to. Also another excuse was that I had hurt my finger and after undergoing a minor procedure at the hospital, the doctor had advised not to get the fingers wet. So taking advantage of this, I had become even more lazy. I hardly cooked anything properly this week. I am planning make something good today. I hope I do it!!
I had made this baingan masala few days back. I get this small varieties of brinjal only in Indian stores which I visit only once a month. So I dont get to make this quite often. But it does tastes delicious and is always a hit at home. Heres how I make it.

Ingredients
Small brinjals- 5 to6
Onions- 1 big chopped
Tomato- 1(optional)
Ginger garlic greenchilly paste- 2tsp
Dried red chilly-2
Coriander seeds-2tsp
Channa dal- 1tsp
Til- 1tsp
Cloves- 2
Cinnamon-1
salt to taste
Turmeric powder- 1tsp
Asafoetida- a pinch
Oil - 3tbspn

Method-
Remove the green stalk portion of the brinjal and slit them twice. Rub little oil on them and fry them with 2tbspn of oil till the skin changes its colour. Remove and keep them aside.
Heat little oil in a pan. Add ginger garlic green chilly paste,cloves,cinnamon,dried red chillies,channa dal and coriander seeds. Then add the onions and saute for sometime. Then the chopped tomatoes .Saute for sometime. Grind together all the ingredients.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the ground mixture, then a pinch of turmeric powder,hing and salt. Add the brinjals. Cover with a lid and allow it to cook for 10 - 15 minutes till the brinjals absorbs the masala. Serve hot with chapatis.
August 26, 2008
23:30
Bread custard pudding
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I was looking for a recipe for bread pudding without egg ,only because I did not have eggs at home that time. I wanted to make something with the available ingredients. I browsed through number of recipes and combined all of them together and finally came upon a very easy recipe with the available ingredients. It tasted ok,not that great, I felt I could have added a little more sugar and made it sweeter. But we had it with a scoop of vanilla icecream, it tasted good. Here's how I made it.

Ingredients-
Bread- 5 to 6 slices
Dryfruits- 1 cup(raisins,cranberries,apricots)
Custard powder of your choice-1tsp
Milk- 1/2litre
Sugar- 2tbspn

Method-

Boil the milk. Dissolve the custard powder in a little milk and add it to the boiled milk. Keep aside. Add sugar if the custard powder is unsweetened.
Lay the bread slices on a flat glassware. Moisten it with milk. You can try adding orange juice too. Then arrange a layer of dry fruits on the slices. Sprinkle with sugar. Pour the custard on the layers now.
Bake this for 20 minutes at 180c.
Chill and serve.
1:18
Sweet corn soup!!
» ‎ Creative saga...

I have been trying a lot of soup varieties nowadays instead of the regular tomato soup. So I have used ingredients like mushrooms and asparagus which I never bothered to buy earlier and very reluctant to do so. Sweet corn is something which I buy quite often, but never used them in soups. This time, I had this corn lying in my fridge for quite sometime until finally I decided to make the soup. So this is how I made.

Ingredients-Sweet corn-2 nosGinger garlic paste-1tspCorn starch- 2tspSoya sauce (I used light)- 1tbspvinegar- 1tspSalt to tastePepper- 1tsp
MethodCook the corn well and seperate the kernals. Heat 1tsp oil in a pan. Add ginger garlic paste and stir for few minutes and add the corn and stir well. Reserve a few kernals and grind rest of them.Then boil 4 teacups of water and add the ground mixture. Add rest of the ingredients till it becomes of a thicker consistency. Add the reserved kernals and mix well.Serve hot with buttered bread/toast.
Srilekha and Kitchen flavours have passed me the "Wilde woman award". Thanks a lot.
I would like to pass the award to all the bloggers who visit my blog regularly and give me encouraging and sweet comments which is truly inspiring for me!!!
August 25, 2008
7:27
Coconut Barfi/fudge
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Now I feel more and more confident each time I make barfi ,though I do feel a little nervous judging the consistency when the barfi sets. It came right this time too. I made this on the janmashtami day. Actually, a lot of delicacies are made on this day. It includes appam, murruku,thattai,seedai, aval and many others. I could not make anything more than appam and aval and of course the barfi. I couldn't take pictures of the appam and aval as I made them just before the pooja and then I did not have time later that day to do it.
However I could take pictures of the barfi. Here's how I made the fudge.

Ingredients-
Grated coconut- 2cups (Pl. remove the brown portion thoroughly to get nice white beautiful ones. I did not do it properly.)
Sugar- 1 cup
Milk- 1/2cup
Cardamom powder-1tsp
Ghee- 2tsp

Method-
Add ghee in a thick bottomed vessel. Add the grated coconut and keep stirring till all the moisture is gone. Then add the milk, sugar and cardamom powder and keep on stirring till you get a thick mass. Spread it on a greased plate. Flatten it well with knife. Allow it to cool a little and then cut them into pieces.
I am sending this barfis to Purva and Priti who are hosting the festive food event.

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