Penne Gamberetto Messicano - Prawn Penne Mexicano

When it comes to Italian food or pasta, a common perception is that it would be bland and tasteless. However Americans have adopted pasta to suit the local tastes combined with the "texmex" cuisine to create a fusion. Here's a prawn penne pasta with loads of Mexican inspired vegetables i.e., capsicums and mushrooms. This version is fairly simple and also uses or rather re-uses vessels to strengthen the taste. Without further ado - here it comes.


Ingredients:

1. Penne Pasta (or any other type that you may prefer)
2. Prawns
3. Garlic - finely chopped or minced
4. Capsicums (Red and Green for colour)
5. Sun Dried tomatoes
6. Mushrooms
7. Flour (Maida) - 2 table spoons
8. Cream
9. Milk
10. Parmesan cheese (for garnish)
11. Parsley (for garnish)
12. Butter
13. Olive Oil
14. Cayenne pepper powder

The Method

1. Boil a large pot with water and salt. 
2. Cook the pasta for about 6 - 8 minutes until it is not too hard (and not too soft either)
3. While the pasta is boiling you can chop the vegetables and keep it ready.
4. In a large work melt about 100 gms of butter and add garlic and saute for a few minutes.
5. Add the prawns and saute until they are half cooked.
6. Add the vegetables and saute for few minutes.
7. Remove the contents and keep aside.
8. In the same pan melt about 50 gms of butter along with olive oil.
9. Add a cup of milk, 2 table spoons of cream and let it boil.
10. Add the flour and stir it well without letting it lump up.
11. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste
12. Add some water to get to a saucy consistency - should be able to pour with a spatula but should not be too thin either.
13. Add the pasta and mix it well
14. Add the sauteed prawns and vegetables and mix it well.
15. Serve hot with a garnish of grated parmesan cheese and finely chopped parsley leaves.

Le Gateaux Carotte a.k.a Carrot Cake

I have always wondered how/why  spices like Cinnamon and Nutmeg can get into a baker's pantry. Carrot cake is one brilliant example how these spices can add so much flavour to a cake. Carrot Cake is one of those desserts which has various textures baked in - soft, moist and crunchy. Whenever I try a store bought cake the icing always puts me off - there's always so much icing and a bit too sweet. Here's my version of a soft, moist and crunchy carrot cake.

Ingredients

For Batter

1. All purpose flour - 2 cups
2. Baking powder - 3 teaspoons
3. Cinnamon powder - 2 teaspoons
4. Nutmeg powder - 2 teaspoons
5. Brown Sugar - 1 cup
6. Melted Butter - 125 gms (1/2 cup)
7. Cream - 2 tablespoons
8. Milk - 3-4 tablespoons
9. Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
10. Vanilla essence - 2 teaspoons
11. Eggs - 3
12. Grated Carrot - 1 1/2 cups
13. Crushed walnuts

For Icing

1. Cream cheese - 1 block
2. Butter - 125 gms
3. Vanilla essence - 2 teaspoons
4. Icing sugar - 2 cups

The Method

The Cake

1. Sift through all the dry ingredients (#1 - #5) in a large mixing bowl,
2. Whisk all the wet ingredients (#6 - #10) in another bowl. 
3. Blend the dry and wet ingredients along with the grated carrot and crushed walnuts until they are mixed evenly.
4. Grease a baking pan with butter or vegetable oil and pour the batter in.
5. Spread the batter around the pan so they are evenly filled.
6. Bake the batter in a 150 deg C oven - slightly higher temperature if not fan operated for a out 20 minutes
7. As always - follow your nose for baking until you get the aroma of something baking.
8. Test the cake by inserting a tooth pick in the middle and it should come out clean without any batter sticking on to it.
9. Remove the cake and let it cool while you work on the icing.

The Icing

1. Take the cream cheese and butter that is already is already in room temperature (keep them outside before you start the entire procedure) and whisk them on a high speed whisk /  blender until you get a smooth pasty texture.
2. Sift through the icing sugar along with the vanilla essence and blend it well.
3. If you would like to decorate your cake with some "carrots" you could take a few tablespoons of this icing separately and mix food colours as you need. (Green for the "leaves" , Red and yellow for the "carrot").

The finishing touches

1. By now you have what you need for a carrot cake. Apply the icing on top and all over the cake once the cake has cooled down (about 30 minutes post baking).
2. If you like a layered cake - slice the cake in the middle, apply a layer of icing on the bottom layer and then smother all the rest of icing all around.
3. You can bag the coloured icing in a ziploc bag and attempt your artistic talents to create the carrots on top of the icing. Being my first time I had mixed success. There are enough Youtube  videos on how to decorate your carrot cake.

Chunky Strawberry Cheese Cake

If my memory serves right I had my very first strawberry cheese cake about 28 years ago in Singapore. Of course I had no idea then what a cheese cake was. Fast forward about 15 years later I got re-introduced to this delectable dessert via the Cheese Cake Factory in Phoenix, AZ. That is when I learnt that no matter how much dinner you eat - you got to save room for dessert. The creamy, cheesy, slightly tangy and a bite of crunchy cheese cake - well if you haven't tried one - here's how you can make it yourselves. I researched quite a few recipes across the web some baked some non-baked. Each one had something that I liked and I didn't like. So here's a version with all the aspects that I liked from a few recipes. 

Ingredients:

1. Cream Cheese - 250 gms
2. Strawberries - 250 gms
3. Biscuits 250 gms (Any sweetish biscuit will do - even though some recommend grahams crakers)
4. Sweetened Condensed milk 
5. Butter - 125 gms
6. Egg - 1
7. Sugar - few tablespoons
8. Vanilla essence - 2 tea spoons
9. Lemon juice - from 1 lemon
10. Corn starch - 1 tea spoon
11. Red Food Colour - absolutely optional

The Method

Strawberry Cheese Cake has 4 phases which can be done almost in parallel while one of them is cooking.

The Base

1) Crush the biscuits until they are crumbed. You can use a blender or just put the biscuits in a ziplog bag and give a good whack using a rolling pin.

2) Melt the butter and mix it with the biscuit crumbs until evenly mixed.

3) Take a circular spring form baking pan and grease the sides with butter.

4) Pour the biscuit crumbs into it and pat it around nice and gently until it is evenly spread and a little bit goes into the sides.

5) Refrigerate this base for about 30 minutes (at least).

While the base is chilling out you can start on the next phase - the batter.

The Batter

1) Whip the cream cheese (which is pre-softened to room temperature) for a minute or using a hand blender or any other mechanical device that suits you.

2) Add the condensed milk, vanilla essence, lemon juice and mix it until well blended.

3) Crack an egg into this mix and blend it well

4) Add a few drops of red food colour to get the pinkish strawberryish look and blend.

5) Finally add a few tablespoons of chopped strawberries and fold it in with a spatula until evenly mixed.

6) Pour the batter into the base and sypread it around evenly with a spatula.

7) Bake the mix in an oven at 150 degrees celsius (approximately 300 deg F) for about 40 minutes. Here, again I would say go with your nose and eyes and not necessarily the time. Stop baking as soon as you smell the buttery cake aroma and the top layer starts to show signs of brown. You can also refer to some handy tips provided by the cream cheese product.

The Topping / Sauce

1) Take a couple of strawberries, diced them up roughly and blend it with about half a cup of water.

2) Filter this blend in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.

3) Add a few tablespoons of sugar and mix it well.

4) Add 2 tablespoons of corn starch water to thicken the sauce.

5) Set the sauce aside to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

6) Slice a few strawberries thinly 

The Finale

1) Arrange the sliced strawberries in a circular fashion on the baked cake while it is still within the spring pan. Arrange the tapered end of the slice facing outwards.

2) Pour the sauce over the strawberries and gently rotate it around so the sauce is spread evenly and slow drip over the corners.

3) Refrigerate (at least) for a few hours before relishing.

Happy Baking !!

C

Masala Stuffed Mushrooms

Thanks Giving weekend always reminds me of all the yummy food and the potluck events in the US of A. One of my favourites from America is the stuffed mushroom. Can’t recollect a specific restaurant where I picked my fancy for this amazing appetizer – maybe Red Lobster? I have enjoyed this in many places but totally missed it after relocating to down under. Yesterday I got reminded of these through a video from Tasty on Facebook. Couldn’t wait to recreate it with of course a bit of my own twist – Masala Stuffed Mushrooms.

Ingredients:

1)      Mushrooms – preferably the wide ones that you can stuff after removing the stem

2)      Garlic – minced

3)      Onions – finely chopped

4)      Cream Cheese

5)      Parmesan Cheese – grated

6)      Butter

7)      Parsley – finely chopped

8)      Bread crumbs

9)      Garam masala

10)   Turmeric powder

11)   Black Pepper powder

The Method

1)      Remove the stem of the mushrooms and chop them finely. This is of course going to be the core of your stuffing.

2)      Heat a sauce pan and melt a few tablespoons of butter.

3)      Saute the onions, garlic and mushroom stems for a few minutes with garam masala, turmeric powder, black pepper powder and salt to taste.

4)      Keep the mixture aside and bring it close to room temperature.

5)      Using a fork, mix the cream cheese, bread crumbs, parmesan.

6)      Add the cooled down masala mushroom mix into the cream cheese well enough for the masala to be mixed evenly.

7)      Use a teaspoon of this mixture and stuff the de-stemmed mushroom cups.

8)      Garnish the stuffed mushrooms with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

9)      Place the mushrooms on a baking tray lined with aluminium paper.

10)   Bake the mushrooms in an oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 5 minutes – just until the parmesan starts turning golden (or you start smelling a burnt smell – whichever comes earlier).

11)   Allow the mushrooms to cool for a few minutes before serving.

12)   Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Hope you had a good Thanks Giving Weekend!!

Enjoy Cooking!!

Chilli Cheese Corn Toast

Chilli Cheese Corn Toast - my little variation on Chilli Cheese Toast. Can't put my finger on when and where I had this for the first time. Must've been during one of my trips to Gurgaon probably. One can call it a very simple version of Indianized pizza. Saw a few recipe options around the web and created a combination with some slight twists here and there. A very quick and easy snack for a weekend evening.

Ingredients:
1) Bread slices (I used wholemeal bread - any kind would do).
2) Green Chillies - finely chopped
3) Capsicum (Bell Pepper for Americans) - Green (and Red if you like more colour) - diced.
4) Sweet Corn kernels
5) Grated Cheese - preferably mozzarella for the ooey gooey effect. (I used a 3 cheese mix - mozzarella, parmesan and tasty cheese).
6) Onions - finely diced
7) Vegetable spread (or butter if you don't mind)
8) Chat masala
9) Salt
10) Kashmiri Chilli powder


Method

1) Pre-heat oven to 150 deg C.
2) Mix all the ingredients (#2 - #10) in a bowl.
3) Apply the vegetable spread on both sides of the bread slices.
4) Place the bread slices on a tray covered with aluminium foil.
5) Spread the mixed ingredients evenly on the bread slices.
6) Pop the tray in oven for about 5-10 minutes until the cheese turns brown.
7) Cut the slices in triangles and serve hot with some tomato ketchup.

Note: If you have young kids at home you might want to pick the green chillies out of toast.

Panneer Lababdar - Panneer (Cottage Cheese) Indulgence

Here's Panneer Lababdar - a Mughal influenced Panneer curry. Google states Lababdar is some sort of strong desire or indulgence and I roughly translated this dish's name to Panneer Indulgence.I could agree with this adjective purely because of the ingredients that go in. While some recipes on the web claim to have a fat free, cholesterol free version - guess what don't bother. If you have to be diet conscious well...you might want to wait until later. ;-) My first introduction to Lababdar was actually Chicken Lababdar at Hilton Garden Inn, Gurgaon. However in the interest of my veggie friends - here's a Panneer version. If you ever wonder how to make a gravy / curry with restaurant style consistency - it's all in the paste. Of course a slight variation in ingredients can turn it into something completely different.

Ingredients:

1. Unsalted Butter - yes it all starts here :)
2. Panneer cubes
3. Cashews
4. Red onions
5. Tomatoes
6. Cardamom seeds (not the entire pod)
7. Cream 
8. Kashmiri Red Chilli powder
9. Garam Masala
10. Kasuri methi leaves (Dried Fenugreek leaves)

Method

1. Heat a pan in medium fire and melt the butter without burning it.
2. Saute the Cashews, Onions, Tomatoes and the Cardamom seeds until the onions and tomatoes get a bit mushy.
3. Let the mixture to cool for a few minutes and blend it into a smooth paste. 
4. Re-heat the same pan with a few table spoons of vegetable oil and saute the blended paste until oil separates.
5. Add Salt, Kashmiri Chilli Powder, Garam Masala and Kasuri Methi leaves while the paste sautes.
6. Once the oil separates add the Panneer cubes and mix it up carefully without breaking the cubes.
7. Add a dash of cream (not too much that it doesn't turn into a pale curry) and about a tablespoon of butter (yes again) and let it simmer for a few minutes.
8. You may add some water to get your choice of consistency (and quantity).
9. Garnish with grated Panneer, another dash of cream  and Coriander leaves.
10. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Enjoy!!

Happy Cooking 

C

Chicken Jalfrezi - Bengali Hot Chicken Curry

Chicken Jalfrezi - one of those dishes almost always found in many Indian restaurants that serves North Indian dishes. Little did I know earlier that the roots for this dish is actually from Bengal. "Jhal" meaning "Hot" in Bengali (apparently). Some websites claim that Jalfrezi has taken over Chicken Tikka as the No.1 dish for UK. This is again a dish I got introduced during my Bangalore Days. A spicy, tangy, thick, chicken curry suitable for roti or rice. There are multiple recipes available on the web, here's my version with a slight twist here and there. 

Ingredients

Ingredients for curry paste

1. Chicken
2. Onions
3. Tomatoes
4. Tomato Paste
5. Green Chillies
6. Dried Red Chillies
7. Ginger Julienne
8. Cashew
9. Poppy seeds
10. Garam Masala
11. Cumin Seeds
12. Cumin Powder
13. Ginger and Garlic paste
14. Cumin Powder
15. Red Chilli Powder (If possible both regular and Kashmiri Chilli for the colour)
16. Amchur Powder
17. Turmeric Powder
18. Vinegar
19. Tomato Ketchup
20. Ghee

Method

1) Take about half of the onions, few tomatoes, green chillies, poppy seeds, and cashews and grind it into a smooth paste.

2) Heat a large kadai and add a few tablespoons of vegetable / canola oil.

3) When oil is hot add cumin seeds and dried red chillies and saute until you get the cumin and chilli "fragrance" out.

4) Add the paste done in step #1, ginger garlic paste and saute well until oil separates.

5) Add chicken, few tablespoons of vineger, about a tea spoon of tomato paste, pinch of turmeric powder, tea spoon of cumin powder, red chilli powder, half a teaspoon of Amchur powder, garam masala and salt to taste.

6) After the chicken is say about 1/3rd cooked, add a tablespoon of tomato ketchup (or sauce depending on which part of the globe you are from), add the remaining onions, ginger julienne saute for a few minutes.

7) Add water and let the curry boil to thicken as needed. Watch out not to add too much water as this is meant to be a thick curry. Do also note that the cashew paste will assist in thickening this up later. By now you should be able to smell the tangyness in the curry.

8) Once the curry has reached the required consistency (by when the chicken must have been cooked as well), add a good dollop of ghee to give the curry a rich and creamy texture. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

9) The curry is done once you can see the oil separated and has reached the consistency you need.

10) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/chappati or rice.

Happy Cooking!!

C

Chettinadu Nandu Rasam a.k.a. Chettinadu Crab Soup

Nandu (Crab) Rasam (Soup), a delicacy we picked up from Anjappar the Chettinad restaurant during one of the many visits. It was a favourite for the 3 of us. Nandha is yet to get there yet, but it would be just a matter of time. With the onset of Autumn in Sydney and a coughing orchestra going on at home, decided to try this out as the Sunday special. There are enough blog posts that talk about the "medicinal" properties of crab soup so I will not bother to talk much about it. Just enough to say that it had a good effect on my cold even while preparing the soup. One of the interesting things I found about this recipe was that most of the ingredients had to be used both "as is" and also in a ground form. Whatever the reason behind, but the impact was awesome.

Ingredients
1) Crab - cut and cleaned. This time we used Blue Swimmer Crab - the male version. Apparently males are more meaty. ;-)
2) Cinnamon sticks
3) Poppy seeds (Khus khus)
4) Fennel Seeds
5) Cumin Seeds
6) Cloves
7) Cardamom

8) Black pepper seeds (I cheated with powder here)
9) Green chilies
10) Diced Onion - Shallots if you can get hold of them
11) Ginger
12) Curry leaves
13) Garlic
14) Diced Tomato
15) Dried Red chillies
16) Turmeric powder
17) Cashews
18) Coconut milk

Yes, it does seem like quite an handful of ingredients but am sure each one of them had a clear part to play. The easy way out would be to use garam masala powder just by itself.

The Method
1) Cut and clean the crab into reasonable sizes. Cleaning of course is a technique - not the most enjoyable one. You can look here for further cleaning tips.
2) Create a paste with half of the garlic, all of ginger, half of green chillies, poppy seeds, curry leaves and cashews.
3) In a large sauce pan saute all the dry ingredients in Gingelly Oil
4) Add the curry leave/green chilly paste and saute for a few minutes.
5) Add the remaining garlic (mashed up), green chillies, onions and tomatoes and saute until oil separates.
6) Add coconut milk and saute until the masala boils.
7) Add the crab and cook until the shell turns red - an indicator that the meat would be cooked. Normally takes about 10 minutes.
8) Add garam masala and black pepper powder to the level of "heat" required.
9) Add enough water to the level of consistency needed and let it boil.

Voila - Nandu Rasam Ready !!

This can be served directly as a soup or with steamed rice as you would normally eat rasam sadam (rice).

Enjoy Cooking !!

C

Roti (Bread) Roast - A Salem Delicacy

Roti (Bread) Roast - dish made out of typical sandwich bread (white / wholemeal) was a dinner tiffin item I grew up with. It was a delicacy / specialty whenever we had guests at home so it had it's own special value. In the last 2.5 months my mom stayed with us I had the privilege of re-living some of my childhood favourites. This would be the first of those series of my Mom's recipes. Apparently this recipe is known / available in very few restaurants in Salem when they were not supposed to eat non-vegetarian food for religious reasons. Hence a good substitute when you have a craving for meat but can't. Here it comes....

Ingredients:

1. Bread - cut into 1 inch thick cubes
2. Diced Onions
3. Diced Tomatoes
4. Ingredients for Masala

• Grated Coconut
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Poppy seeds
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cardamom
• Cloves
• Fennel seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Black Pepper
• Dried Red Chillies

5.  Mustard seeds
6.  Channa dal
7.  Urad Dal

8.  Cashews
9.  Curry leaves

The Method:

1. Roast the bread with oil in a large pan / wok and keep aside.
2. Blend the ingredients for Masala into a coarse paste with minimal water.
3. In a large wok temper the mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal and curry leaves with oil.
4. Saute onions until golden brown
5. Saute tomatoes for a few minutes until it becomes a bit mushy
6. Add the masala paste and saute until oil separates
7. Add a bit of salt to taste.
8. Add the roasted bread and saute until masala is mixed well. Make sure the bread doesn't get too mushy
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy!!

C