Carrot Kheer

Some people have a really bad sweet tooth craving, while others don't. Me and Dear Hubby fall into the latter category. I used to love sweets but now for some reason I don't really like it that much. The only ones in our family who loves sweet is my Mom, Dad, and Sister in Law. With majority of us not being a fan of sweet dish, in a normal gathering we always skip this. However, when we have a formal gatherings, we can't really do that. In such occasions I try to make something that is not too too sweet yet good enough for our guest. I saw this carrot kheer recipe on Aarthi's Blog and decided to make this healthy sweet dish. It was not only liked by our guests but was also loved by dear hubby!!!

Check out Aarthi's blog for a detailed recipe here. Do try it, I am sure you will fall in love with it. Meanwhile, enjoy these clicks:::::

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Kheema Pulao & New Look for the Blog....

Lately, I have been working on giving a new look to my blog... less did I know that it was going to ruin my entire layout. I was a CS (Computer Science) Major in college for about three semester and every time when we have to write the coding for the assignment, I would go insane. I would have everything done correctly, with an exception of a missing ; or < or > or ' or " or { or } or \ or /...... Stupid symbols, I used to think... These symbols were the only reason for me to change my major and become a CPA.... I think I made the right choice. 

But have you ever wondered, humanity started with sign language and then symbols, which then became what we know as various different languages... Now we go back and use the "symbols" in order to create all these programs to make our life easier... Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? 

 

Anyways, after a long struggle with the html code and a little help from my brother (who by the way is an IT tech, but very busy) I was able to publish the new look for my blog... You may call it a Spring Cleaning for my blog as well...

I hope you guys like this new look... do let me know...

Coming to the recipe. This Pulao I tried it during the tax season. I used to come home around 8 and leave around 9 in the morning, this left me with a very little time to cook a full blown meal like I normally do and this is something that I suffer from every year (last year it was so brutal that I had to take a blogging break:( )... I tried this pulao, basically threw everything in the pressure cooker and the result was really awesome! Hence, I thought of sharing this with you all out there who sometimes struggle with time like I do... 

Ingredients:

1. Minced Goat meat - cleaned and washed.
2. Three cups basmati rice - washed 3 times.
3. Five tblsp oil.
4. Whole spices - One tsp cumin seeds; three cardamoms, three whole black pepper, three cloves, one cinnamon stick.
5. Two to three whole red chillies.
6. One potatoe - cut in cubes.
7. Red Spice Mixture - Three tblsp red chili powder, three tblsp coriander powder, a pinch turmeric powder, salt per taste, three tblsp ginger-garlic paste, and one tblsp lemon juice.
8. One medium onion - thinly sliced.
9. One medium tomato - thinly sliced.
10. Three tblsp plain yogurt.
11. Three tblsp chopped coriander.
12. One tblsp chopped mint leaves.
13. Three tblsp fried onions (available in Indian Stores).
14. Three-Four glasses of water.

Process:

1. Heat two tblsp oil in a wok, add in washed minced goat meat and cook till the water evaporates and the meat is half way cooked. (The meat will turn from pink to grayish). Keep the half cooked meat aside.
2. Heat three tblsp oil in add in whole red chili and whole spices in mentioned in #4 above.
3. Add in sliced onions and cubed potatoes.
4. Add in chopped tomotoes as the onions turn light brown.
5. Cook tomotoes till oil separates.
6. Add in Red spice mixture (#7), yogurt, cooked meat, chopped mint and coriander leaves, and fried onions.
7. Mix well and let it cook for about 4-5 minutes.
8. Now add rice and water, mix well.
9. Pressure cook it for 15 minutes - this step varies based the type of pressure cooker you are using. Normally, for my pressure cooker I let it whistle three times and that gets it done.

I know the ingredients list and process looks a bit long for a quick meal but it really doesn't take that long as it looks!

ENJOY!!!

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No Bake Mango Cheese Cake

I am eagerly waiting for the warm weather visit our neck of the wood - Why? Well first of all I am not really a winter type of girl; second, we can do a lot of other FUN things in summer time compared to winter (for example, enjoy lazy afternoons, Bar-B-Q, Parties and get together, and much much more!!!); however, the MAIN thing that I like to do, just like many of you out there, is to munch on delicious, flavorful, juicy mangoes ... 

However, there few things that doesn't stop you having this delicious fruit off season. One of the reasons would be this delicious post by Nags the author of Edible Garden. I could not help myself but try this cheese cake recipe. It came out fabulous but I could have done few things differently. Like:

1. Nags used gelatin, I didn't have any halal gelatin available, so I used China Grass instead. I should have used more, because the top layer didn't really settle as I had expected. 

2. Nags used Honey maid crackers, whereas I used Marie Biscuit. I should have used a little bit more so that I would have had a better bottom layer. 

Click here for the original recipe... If you haven't visited her blog yet, please do so... you will fall in love with her blog!! In the meanwhile... enjoy these clicks!!!

ENJOY!!!

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Coconut Pudding

This is one of those dishes that I just experimented and came out so good! Dear Hubby loves anything with coconut. Be it a goat curry, ice cream, candy, chutney or any thing that you can think of. I don't know that many dishes which includes coconut, and for me coconut with any meat is not that great of a combo. However, coconut with anything sweet is YES!!! Perfect Combo!!!

I had a can of coconut milk sitting in my pantry for quite a long time now. As I was rearranging my pantry, I took the can out and thought of making something sweet with it, but not too sweet either; and this is what I ended up doing...

Ingredients:

1. One can coconut milk
2. One tblsp china grass (also known as agar-agar)
3. Five tblsp warm water
4. Five tblsp sugar
5. Few strands of saffron

Process:

1. Pour coconut milk in a heavy bottom pan, add sugar, and bring to boil.
2. In a small bowl, mix together china grass and warm water - mix well. 
3. Pour china grass mixture to boiling coconut milk - mix well and turn off the heat. 
4. Add few strands of saffron and mix well. 
5. Pour the milk into small moulds of your choice.
6. Refrigerate for about an hour. The milk will harden. 
7. Take it out of moulds before serving, serve cold.

These came out so good and are perfect as after dinner desserts. 

ENJOY!!!

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Mozzarella Sticks

This snack is to die for if you are a cheese lover, like I am... We always order this from our local Pizza shop and at UNO's, we always used to wonder how exactly they make this sinful delicious side dish. This was when I was in my teens. Later on, I got so addicted to making everything at home and tried variety of recipes from all over the world but never tried to make these sticks; until the other day, my niece mentioned it to me and said she loves it. I decided to make this for her. I went on Google and searched variety of recipes and finally decided to make my own recipe for it, a bit spiced up and a bit Indianized, may I add. :)

Ingredients:

1. Store bought mozzarella sticks
2. One cup all purpose flour
3. One cup Italian bread crumbs
4. One beaten egg
5. One tblsp red chili powder
6. One tbsp chaat masala
7. Oil for deep frying

Process:

1. In a bowl, mix together bread crumbs, red chili powder, and chaat masala, keep aside.
2. Dip sticks in all purpose flour (one by one).
3. Dip floured sticks in egg and coat well (one by one).
4. Roll egg coated sticks in bread crumb mixture (step 1). 
5. Again, dip the crumb coated sticks in egg and coat well (one by one). 
6. Again, roll egg coated sticks in bread crumb mixture (step 1) (one by one). 
7. Keep the double coated sticks on a plate and put it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. 
8. In the meanwhile, heat oil for deep frying the sticks. 
9. One oil is well heated, add two sticks at a time and deep fry till golden brown. 
10. Keep fried sticks on the paper towel for excess oil to be drained out. 
11. Serve hot with ketchup....

After making this dish, I had to do my food photography session, my niece was very patience throughout the whole process, however at the end she could not hold herself back and kept wandering around the plate full of this delicious snack... You can see the innocence in her eyes... Isn't she the cutest baby!!! I love her to death... 

This post is dedicated to my little niece... Love you Gudda... 

ENJOY!!!

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Choco Rolls

This recipe is adapted from multi-talented Kurryleaves!! I absolutely love her blog and you will too, when you look at it. The original recipe for Choco Rolls is here. I didn't really changed much but here are my notes:

1. I used 10 Marie Biscuits, to be precise.
2. I should have sieved the instant coffee powder, that would have given me a better result.

ENJOY!!!

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