Elaneer pudding

Recipe

Ingredients :

• Coconut Pulp from 3 Tender coconuts
• Coconut Water from 1 Tender coconut
• 1 cup Water
• 1 tin Condensed Milk / Milkmaid
• 1/2 tspVanilla Essence
• 1 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Sugar ( reduce sugar if using condensed milk or according to your taste )
• 5 tsp Gelatin / 10 gm china grass

Method :

1. In a blender add the tender coconut water and pulp of 1 and 1/2 coconut and blend it to a smooth paste and keep it aside.
2. Boil the water in a sauce pan , Let the water come to a full rolling boil .
3. Add the Gelatin and stir with a fork , until it is dissolved completely / If your using china grass then soak china grass in 1 cup of water and stir in low flame till completely dissolved. Keep the mixture aside.
4. Cut the remaining pulp into thin small pieces and keep it aside.
5. In a pan warm the milk with the milkmaid and sugar , and stir with fork until the sugar is completely dissolved . Take it off the flame .
6. Strain and add the gelatin / china grass to the milk mixture.
7. Add the smooth paste of the coconut pulp to the milk mixture.
8. Finally add the small pieces of pulp to it and allow it to cool for 5-10 min.
9. Pour into molds and refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours.
10. Serve it with the bowl or in a plate. 
11. Yummy wobbly pudding ready. 

      

PS : If you like payasam than pudding , then leave out the gelatin ( steps 1 , 2 and 6 ), follow the other steps . Cool the milk mixture for 1-2 hours and serve cold .
        

Brownie Milkshake

Recipe

Ingredients

Brownie - 1 Vannila ice cream - 1 scoop Chocolate ice cream - 1 scoop Milk oreo biscuits Ice cubes Sugar

Method

* BLend it in a blender * Ready !!

Sandwich Chutney

Recipe

Ingredients

Coriander Leaves - 1 cup
Mint Leaves - 1 cup Coconut grated - 1/2 cup Green Chillies - 5 to 6 Ginger - 1 pic Garlic cloves - 5 to 6 Lemon Juice - 2 tblspn Onion - 1 (medium size) Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp sugar - 1/2 tsp (optional) Salt to taste Water - little for grinding

Method

* Clean all ingredients * Grind them * Ready !!!

Hara Tava Paneer

Recipe

This is a protein rich snack , inspired by Tarla dalal's recipe with my own twists .Didn't click a pic , so borrowed it from Google !

Ingredients:

For the marination: ( Hara Chutney )

1 cup coriander
3 tbsp grated coconut
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 green chillies
Salt to taste
2 tbsp curd

For the stuff:

3/4 cup boiled sweet corn
2 tbsp Hara chutney
Salt to taste
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander 

For roasting:

Paneer , cut into square pieces , approx 20 to 30
Oil for roasting
1 whole Capsicum 
1 big Onion 
1 big Tomato 
Tooth pics or skewers

Method:

Hara Chutney:

* Take the curd and keep it aside.

* Blend all the other ingredients to a smooth paste.

* Transfer the paste into a bowl.

* Mix the curd to the paste.

* Keep the bowl aside.

* Keep 2 tbsp chutney separately for the stuff.

Marination:

* Remove the seeds in capsicum , cut it into small square pieces.

* Remove the seeds in tomato , cut it into equal square pieces.

* Cut the onion into equal square pieces.

* Dip the paneer pieces one by one in the chutney bowl , coat it with the chutney and place it in a wide plate .

* Finally add all the cut vegetables in the bowl , mix it together and pour over the paneer pieces.

* Marinate the paneer and veggies in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

* Meanwhile prepare the stuffing.    

Stuff:

* Blend the boiled corn , pinch of salt , 2 tbsp hara chutney into a coarse paste.

* In a bowl mix the coarse paste with milk and finely chopped corriander.

* In a pan add oil , fry the chopped onion until golden brown.

* Add the corn paste and saute for 3-5 min in a medium flame.

* Remove from flame and transfer to bowl and allow to cool.

Roasting:

* Thread the capsicum on to a skewer , then the tomato. 

* Then paneer carefully , as it may break , then add the stuffing and then the next paneer piece. Thus the stuff being in between the 2 paneer pieces.

* Finally thread the onion.

* Do this for all the paneer pieces approx 15 skewers .

* Now brush the big non stick pan or a grill with oil.

* Once the pan is hot, grill the paneer until its roasted to golden brown on all 4 sides.

* Serve it with mint chutney.

🍁 Dinner at Hamsa

Restaurant review

We made reservations in hamsa to celebrate my husband's birthday . It is a vegetarian fine dining restaurant . The logo is of the hamsa bird itself . It was a place of spectacular opulence , the hallway was impressive and filled with royalty.

We were welcomed inside and served with a welcome dish in a vintage bell shaped silverware with the hamsa bird for the handle . It was of intricate workmanship.

The welcome sweet was gulab jamun. I usually like my gulab jamun soft and hot , as it was served for us to begin with it was a bit cold and firm.

                

They gave us cold towels to freshen us up and the people who served us were pleasant .

The lighting was shadowy , romantic and candles were lit . The candles were placed in bowl which resembled that of a lotus.

For the soup we ordered Tomato Shorba , which was a tomato and dhaniya (corriander) soup. It was served generously in a cute black bowl.

There was complimentary papads which was spicy and crispy.

Appetizer we ordered 3 dishes , Paneer sanufiya being the first dish . It was a fennel spiced stuffed paneer sandwich dish , which was delicious .

Next one was Jaipuri Bhindi , which was fried , crispy okra coated with gram flour . which was a bit oily for me.

We also had one more paneer dish called the Bharwan paneer which is paneer stuffed with nuts and spices which was also good. 

It was a north indian restaurant so we had to order Butter Naans and rumali rotis. Gobi adrak paratha was to mention . We had the Kadaai paneer and Gobi dum musallam. It was luscious . We also ordered idiyappam , which is one of my favorites , it was silky and soft , But we had no special side dish for the idiyappam we had to eat it with the paneer and gobi masala.

Even the after-mint came in a special box.

The bill came in a Silver antique cutlery , which was delicately worked . 

Overall this place had a exquisite ambiance 5/5 , Food comparatively i would rate it to about 4/5 and the service 5/5 . I would surely visit the place again just for the ambiance and to try out new dishes.

Karakolumbu

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Potatoes - sliced

1 Onion finely chopped

4 garlic pods 

curry leaves

chilli powder

salt

coriander powder

asafoetida powder

oil 

mustard seeds

urud dal

water 3 cups

turmeric powder

coriander leaves

tamarind paste

P.S: - chilly powder:coriander powder = 1:2(5 table spoons)

Method

*  In a pan,add 3 spoons of oil.

*  After the oil is heated,put mustard,urud dal,curry leaves,garlic,onion,potato.

*  Saute it for sometime until the onion turns brown.

*  Add salt,chilly powder,turmeric powder,water,coriander leaves.

*  Mix it well and wait till the water comes to a boil.

*  Wait till the potato gets cooked.

*  Add tamarind paste.(according to your taste).

*  Allow it to boil.

*  Wait till the expected consistency is obtained.

P.S: - If you feel the kuzhambu is sour(tamarind is high),add salt,chilly powder and water and allow it to boil.(vice versa)

Brownie

Recipe

Ingredients

2 cup maida ( flour ) 2 cup sugar 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa 1 cup oil 1 cup water 1 tablespoon vanilla essence 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
• Pour water, vegetable oil and vanilla extract, mix until well blended.
• let cool for atleast 10 min before cutting.
• Spread evenly in a baking pan.
• Bake for 30 min at 180 degree C.

Milo Milkshake

Recipe

Ingredients

Milo - 1/2 cup
Vannila ice cream - 3 scoop
ice cubes - 5
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar

Method

* BLend it in a blender * Ready !! * Pour into a glass and top it with Milo powder.

Bread Halwa

Recipe

Ingredients

Bread - 4 slices

Sugar - 1 Cup

Milk - 1 Cup

Unsweetened koya - 1 Cup

Cashew nut ( optional )

Almonds ( optional )

Ghee - 2 Tbs

Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Oil

Water

Method

1. Cut the bread into 4 pieces .
2. Fry it in oil.
3. Prepare jeera mixture by adding 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water in a pan. 
4. Put the bread pieces in the jeera mixture. 
5. Add koya, milk and vanilla essence in a separate bowl and mix it well. 
6. Pour this mixture over the bread slices and mix it till the pieces gets shredded.
7. And mix it well till halwa consistency is attained.
8. Add 2 tablespoons of ghee.
9. Serve it with nuts.

🍁 My Visit to Dragon's Den

Restaurant review

Just as the rain falls , we visited this place for lunch called the dragon's den in adayar .

Rainfall themed  big french windows , was elegant and exhilarating . The ambiance was good with slow Chinese music in background .

Our first order was soup . We ordered jade soup and hongkong noodle soup which was well-seasoned.

Next we ordered the Chef special Chilli egg , nice and spicy with capsicum and chillies.



Of course , since it was a Chinese place we ordered chicken lollipop ,was flavorful (a bit sweet for me!), 



Finally the mouthwatering dim-sums served in a bamboo basket along with a sweet sauce to dip . Freshly steamed and hot . 

Overall experience was good . 

Pleasant ambiance!

Fast and good Service !

Not heavy on the pocket !

And a nice time with friends .

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Recipe

Ingredients 

250 gms button mushrooms

1 medium onion chopped

1 bay leaf

black pepper powder

2-3 garlic pods chopped

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

1 cup water

6 tbsp cream

1 cup milk

a pinch of nutmeg

1/2 tsp chopped corriander leaves

salt to taste

Method

*  Melt the butter in a sauce pan.

*  Add the bay leaf and saute till fragrant - about 4-5 seconds.

*  Add the chopped onions and garlic.

*  Saute till they soften and become translucent.

*  Add the sliced or chopped mushrooms and saute till the mushrooms start to release water.

*  Saute till all the water dries up and the mushrooms are a light brown.

*  Add the flour and saute for 3-4 minutes stirring often.

*  Then add freshly crushed black pepper and saute for half a minute.

*  Add water first followed by milk.

*  Stir well and season with salt.

*  On a low flame let the soup come to boil

*  The soup would also begin to thicken.

*  On a low flame stir it occasionally for about 4-5 minutes.

*  Then add the cream and chopped parsley.

*  Simmer for 2-3 minutes more stirring often.

*  Lastly sprinkle nutmeg powder and stir. 

*  Switch off the stove top and the soup is Ready !!!

P.S :

-(measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

-use freshly crushed or powdered black pepper.

-use milk at room temperature