BANANA SEMIFREDDO - Eggless and Easy

                      You have to dream, before your dream can come true.- Abdul Kalam

How was your weekend?  Anything special??

Well, mine was.  I met President OBAMA! Yippee, and boy oh boy was he as good looking in person and even more charming.

OK let's not get too excited too soon, I met him In my DREAMS........ literally.

I was a busy girl in my dreams.

I dreamt I was in Waikiki Beach.

I dreamt I ran a 50 mile marathon.

I dreamt I was eating Ice cream right out of a box and I didn't gain an ounce(I wish)..

Well, at least one dream could be partly satisfied right?:)

Semifreddo(semi frozen)is an Italian dessert. The perfect delicate chilled dessert was the star of our Saturday dinner. 

Very elegant, simple and best of all, it is easy to make.

Pardon me for not using fresh berries, especially when found in abundance. Was too lazy to go get some when we were having company in less than an hour. 

Here goes the simple dessert.

Inspired by BBC Good Food,  which I bookmarked  way way back.  I 've seen Semifreddo make it's rounds in summer quite often and it's perfect on a hot day after a spicy meal. This is just a method, I just made it my way, this is NO way the traditional form which uses eggs and tastes delicious too.  This is what I tried and loved.

BANANA SEMIFREDDO

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Whipping Cream(chilled)      
• 1 cup Milk( 2 percent)        
• 1/4 cup Condensed Milk( or you could use sugar instead)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp cornstarch            
• 1 banana  ripe            
• pistachios and berries of your choice

Method:

1. Chill the bowl you want to whip your cream in for 2 hours.
2.  Dissolve cornstarch in 3 tbsp of cold milk very well and keep aside.
3. In a pan on medium to low heat, add Milk and bring it to a point where you can see little bubble around the edges.
4. Add the dissolved cornstarch to the milk along with the condensed milk and keep stirring, making sure not to get any lumps.
5. Once the mixture coats the back of the spoon or the mixture is little thick like custard consistency, turn off the stove and let it cool.  Make sure to apply some plastic film on top of the custard so it doesn't form a coating(yuck)....
6.  If you want to speed up the cooling process, take a big bowl of ice cubes and leave the custard with the pan on top of the ice and keep stirring..
7. Once completely cooled , in a blender, food processor or A MAGIC Bullet(I love it)...add the custard, banana and puree it to a fine paste and keep it in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before adding it to the cream and whipping it.
8.  Now take the chilled bowl from the freezer, add the chilled whipping cream using a hand beater or stand mixer, whip the cream mixture till stiff peaks form with 2 tbsp of sugar.
9.  Whip the custard to a good consistency and fold the whipped cream in very very carefully.
10.  Line a pan with wax paper or line a bowl with plastic wrap and POUR the Cream mixture in it, wrap and freeze for minimum of 4-6 hours or overnight.
11.  Let sit at room temp for 10 minutes, take it out on a platter, serve with fresh fruits of your choice and nuts.

ENJOY!!!!
Note- You can increase or decrease the amount of sweetness depending on your taste.

GARLIC SRIRACHA Bread Knots- Multi Grain

 “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French...... GARLIC makes it good.”-Alice May Brock

       Do you have a green thumb??

If you do, I admire you and if you don't I'm secretly happy;).  I hear about homegrown tomatoes, chilies and fruits being so tasty and my friend even grows sugar cane, CRAZY...Why does it come so easy to some and here I am with a single leaf Banana tree which has been alive for 4 years with only couple of leaves present all the time.  I water it, ummm, maybe not all the time..But it hasn't dried up on me yet, that's the bright side.

This year has been a lucky one,as far as fresh vegetables are concerned.  

I have a great friend who enjoys gardening and is a very giving person.  I was surprised and thrilled to get some fresh garlic with roots, stem, leaves and all bagged for me. It might sound cliched, but I did feel like I got some kind of an award. With ideas hovering over my mind, I might have spoken my thoughts aloud and mentioned garlic knots in front of my boy..and that's that.  Every day since then he kept bugging me, as to when I was going to bake them..

I FINALLY DID.

Bread baking is one of those calming things I enjoy every time. After testing and trying out the Multi Grain Pizza dough for at least 4 times, I know I will reach out to this recipe a lot more. Give it a try, it will amaze you too. 

My boy, the official bread kneader of my family, did such an awesome job of kneading the dough and if it didn't rise, I would've been a very sad mom. But, it came out great!, tripled in volume and tasted darn good. Check out FOCACCIA and Basic SPICY BREAD, shows how much we love bread.   The little ones love some spice, and in went the famous sriracha and it was DELICIOUS and even before it could be photographed, half was gone.

MULTI GRAIN GARLIC and SRIRACHA KNOTS

For the dough and KNOTS:

Ingredients:
Bread Flour or All purpose Flour -  2 cups
quick cooking oats(powdered)  -  1/2 cup
Whole wheat flour                   - 1 cups
flax seeds meal                        - 2 tbsp
Salt                                         - 1 tbsp
quick rise yeast                        - 1 package
sugar                                       - 1 tsp
Olive Oil                                  - 2 tbsp
Water(110 degrees)                  - 11/3 cup

Method:
1.  In warm water, add the yeast and sugar and mix and let it do its magic for 10 minutes.
2.  In a food processor or a stand mixer, add all the flour, flax seed meal, salt, and olive oil.
3.  Whip it couple of times to incorporate everything well.
4.  Add the yeast mixture and pulse or beat it on medium until full combined.  Now turn the mixer to low and beat it for 10 minutes.  If used a food processor mix it for 5 minutes.
5.  Take it out, oil a bowl very well, and coat the dough well and leave it to rise for 2-3 hours.
6.  NOW time to make the knots.  Take the dough, make four portions, then make thin long cylindrical strips, and divide each strip to 6 portions. With each portion make knots, or you could keep it simple and just make circles or just cut it to bite size pieces and put in on a baking sheet with some cornmeal or plain flour.
7.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees for 15 to 20  minutes.
8.  Bake  for 20 minutes. 


For the GARLIC AND SRIRACHA dressing:
Ingredients:
Garlic                   -4-5 cloves
Cilantro                - 2-3 tbsp
Olive oil               - 2 tbsp
Sriracha                - 1tbsp( or accordingly)
Garlic Salt            - 1/2 tsp
pepper                - 1/4 tsp

Method:
1. In a small food processor or any grinder add all the ingredients and make a smooth puree.
2.  Check for the flavoring, you can add anything as you go.

PUTTING THE GARLIC KNOTS TOGETHER- Very Important
When the Garlic knots come out of the oven, you have to drench it with the dressing and mix it thoroughly.  You could put it in a brown baggy, add the dressing and shake it up.  IF YOU WAIT FOR THE KNOTS TO COOL, it will not work, you have to put the dressing on the knots, as soon as it exits the oven.
Serve it with any soup.  I served it up with some onion soup and it was perfect.
ENJOY!!  

HOPE You get to make it and Please let me know how the recipe was.

SPICY PLUM BARBECUE SAUCE and Grilled Tofu - How I went from making sweet jam to spicy barbecue sauce

Harvard takes perfectly good plums as students, and turns them into prunes - Frank Lloyd Wright

Hope your weekend was good.

I was 7, I think. It was 19XX coughs ;)..

During vacations,  my grandma whom I fondly called 'Amma' and the little me, each carrying  a wire grocery bag walked hand in hand to our local fruit market. Just the BAG, brings back nostalgic memories.

After much bargaining, we load our baskets with different fruits. Walking to the auto stand with heavy load was a task in itself, we take an auto-rickshaw to a place I loved to go.

I still remember the whitewashed walls, big huge 5 foot industrial style machines and the smell of sweet sugar and fruits. Large aluminium tables adorned the middle of the room, knifes and peelers were all set to be used.  
We went there to make JAM. It was a jam making facility.

Among 30 middle aged hyper women and big machines running, the little kids were easily forgotten.

Oh, what fun it was for us kids to see the machine peel oranges and the fruits turning to mush. I don't exactly remember how it was cooked but all I remember is that my grandma would bottle it up and promise me that she would buy some fresh bread from our corner bakery. I could never get enough of fresh jam.

The process took a whole 5 hours and I am still surprised that we could do all that in India way back and now it is gone :-( . The concept of using local produce to make our own products is coming back in US now.

Inspired by my fond memories of summer, I decided to make jam with my boys. I just got a huge bag of fresh of the tree plums from my good friend's garden (completely organic).

With Plums simmering in sugar, our home smelled exactly like how I remember from years ago.  My little one comes running down and asks If I was making Halwa(Indian dessert). He sat on the kitchen counter and saw his brother stirring away, constantly complaining why he wasn't in on the action. 

When it was quarter way done, my older one decided to  taste it and his face went all sorts of weird, we realized that the plums were not sweet at all, they were tart.
I had to make it work, quickly turned it into a Spicy BARBECUE sauce. Brilliant, tasted like none other. It went perfect with grilled chicken and my vegan friends enjoyed their tofu with barbecue sauce.
   

Go ahead and try a small batch to see how you like it and you will be making bottles before the season is over..

SPICY PLUM BARBECUE SAUCE 
and GRILLED TOFU

Makes 1 Quart
1hr and 30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 lbs Red Plums
6 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger finely grated
3 thin slices lemon
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp spice pepper(or black whole pepper)
4 sage leaves
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp red chili powder
2 tsp salt 

Method:

1. Keep a large heavy or thick bottom deep pan and turn on the stove to medium heat.
2. Add the pitted plums and brown sugar.  
3. While it is coming to a boil, in a large cheese cloth add, whole lightly crushed garlic, pepper, coriander seeds, cumin seed, sage leaves, lemon slices and tie it tightly. Add the packet to the plum mixture. 
4. Add apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, finely grated ginger, red chili powder, salt and Worcestershire sauce and bring the mixture to a boil stirring continuously.
5. Turn the flame to simmer and let cook for 40-45 minutes. 
6. Turn off the heat and let cool.  
7. Once a bit cooled, take out the cheese cloth and press it hard to drain the juice and  strain the plum sauce in a large strainer so that you get a good consistency sauce without any pulp.
8. Add the strained sauce again to the same pan and bring it to simmer.  Check for spices, and add anything you want accordingly.
9.  Again simmer it for 15 more minutes and turn off the heat and cool.  
10. You could it in jars and store refrigerated for up to a month or at room temperature for a week.  
11.  You could use this with any of your favorite meats, I used chicken and tofu, both of which we enjoyed.

GRILLED TOFU

Marinate slices of firm tofu in the barbecue sauce for an hour and grill it in an outdoor grill or like I did in my foreman's grill(love it). You could top with chia seeds before grilling.
Serve with some barbecue sauce on the side.

ENJOY!

YUCCA and Red Quinoa Fritters with Saffron Aioli

           What came first the chicken or the EGG? 

 Summer for me is the time to laze around, sleep crazy hours and the time to socialize. My foodie friend and I have been planning a meetup for a while now.

The day came, and I was excited to have her home for coffee. I made these Peruvian inspired yucca fritters for her.  Coffee was set in my small and cozy backyard. Got ready in my butterfly summer outfit, pinning my hair up and in summer sandals, was ready for some girly couple of hours.

 Peruvian Yucca balls,  OK I see you smile,  tell me, how could you write a recipe like this and not be made fun of, right?  To keep it clean, I renamed it Yucca Fritters;).  What's in the name right, these are delicious whether you call it yucca balls or fritters..Really, you got to try this, I'm telling ya, it's so good, you will keep making it.  I can't decide which is better the fritter or the aioli, go ahead try em' both and you tell me..deal? 

So the question arose, 'did you decide on this dish after you invited me or you had this in mind and I got to be your scapegoat to make fun of??' Welllll;)

To my single and  beautiful friend...I enjoyed having her over with this controversial starter name, which turned out to be a good light dinner later.

YUCCA AND RED QUINOA FRITTERS  with SAFFRON AIOLI

Ingredients:
1/2 cup red quinoa cooked as per instructions
1 cup cooked yucca/tarraroot  grated
1 tsp ginger grated
1 tsp grated green chilly
1 tsp salt or to taste
Oil for pan frying

Method:
1. Cook red quinoa in water for 15 minutes and drain and keep aside.
2. Cut yucca in pieces, and steam it.  You can alternatively microwave and cook it. After it cools, peel the tough thick skin and grate it finely.
3.  In a big bowl, add all the other ingredients and mix well and make golf ball, or little smaller than that portions.
4. Shallow fry it till it browns evenly. Remember not to wait too long to fry or it dries out and doesn't hold it's shape.  We haven't used eggs or any binder, so you have to use a little bit of strength to form the rounds. It's already cooked so there is no need to fry it longer.
5. Take it out and serve with the amazing Saffron Aioli or any sauce your family likes.

SAFFRON AIOLI
1 generous pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tblsp milk
1/4 cup light mayonaisse
1 clove garlic
1 tsp hot sauce(I used sriracha) or accordingly
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Blend everything together to a smooth sauce and serve as a dipping sauce or as a dressing for the salad.

ENJOY!!
Note:
Cooking the yucca before removing the skin is easier, but if you feel you want to remove the tough skin before cooking it, please do so.  The result is same. You could freeze the portions before frying for upto a month and defrost it for couple of hours before frying this and it works perfect.

Happy BIRTHDAY - Almond Discs( Zimsterne or Marzipani) with Lychee cream

          Here's the thing about love.

The love I'm talking about is unconditional, just give with open arms, lotsa hugs, kisses and tears kinda love. No, it's not the crazy giddy love with butterflies buzzing, where you  wait to fall on your face one day but it's the 'MY HEART  belongs to  this thing in my arms LOVE'.

My baby is a officially a teen. How appropriate is this dessert which epitomizes him in every way and the cherries on top are there just because. 

                       

Birthdays are fun, candles, gifts, the feeling of being loved and the joy it brings.

Just look at me my sweet friends, he say's 'I am simple and strong'. 

I 'm unbelievably easy, you'll love me, cause' I'll comfort you.

        Once you get to know me, you will remember me with fond thoughts forever.

                   Do you ever think about what food depicts you the best?

The recipe is quite a simple one, just like a meringue but with almond powder and the cream whipped and flavored any way you want it. The fruit of the day I chose was LYCHEE. 

ALMOND DISCS with LYCHEE CREAM             

Ingredients:

For the Almond Discs

4 Egg Whites at room temperature
1 cup Almond meal/powder
1 tsp cornstarch
1 cup granulate sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Lychee Cream

1 cup very cold whipping cream
1/2 cup lychee paste(you could use fresh and grind it up or canned and grind it up to a smooth paste)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Method:

For the Almond Discs
1. Leave the Egg whites at room temperature before you start whipping it up.
2. Beat the egg whites in a very clean bowl until it is foamy.  Then add the sugar+cornstarch+cream of tartar and beat it till glossy.
3.  Add the almond meal in batches and fold it in.  Add the vanilla extract and mix.
4.  On a large baking pan draw two 6 inch circles on a parchment paper and turn the paper upside down. Pipe the meringue mixture inside the circle.
5.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let it cool on a cooling rack.  Be gentle while handling the discs.

For the Lychee Cream
1. Chill the bowl in which you are planning to whip the cream.
2.  Whip the cream on low speed, adding 2 tbsp of sugar at a time.  Once you've added all the sugar, add the very cold lychee paste to it too.
3.  Whip the cream to stiff peak on medium speed.

Assembly:
Place one disc, spread half the cream on top, cut some strawberries and place another disc on top of that. Spread the other half of the cream and top it with cherries or any fruit of your choice.

Enjoy!!

This tastes even better after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

BEET TOMATO PASTA WITH PEAS MASALA

                    Life is not worth living if I cannot have pasta or bread again-Monica Seles
      

The day starts off bright and promising. 

After a month of being without a/c, yesterday the heavens opened and we feel cold, thanks to my new friend who fixed it.
  
Filled my elephant mug with strong hot coffee(which was a pure torture last couple of weeks). I sat by the window, slowly sipping away jotted my plans for the day.  Little did I know then that plans work a bit differently every time. 


 After my coffee,I was refreshed and ready to go about my day.  My morning jog goes for a toss with boys at home and my hubby out of town. After dropping the kid off to his class, came back very optimistic about making my pasta from scratch. Got back and realized, I had to run errands which I was postponing(now I have to do that after lazing for couple of weeks).  Lunch comes and goes, my pasta hasn't started yet.

Very determined , I gathered everything to make my pasta.  Then ring ring, get a call from my little one's coach about his class....oops, I forgot.  I drive my little one to his class and get back.  My headache's creeping on me, I remember it's time for my evening coffee.  After a rushed coffee routine, I am on a crunch to make dinner, which I thought would be done by now.

OK, mixed all the ingredients, let the dough  rest, went to pick my little one from class.  Got back, a little tired, but I was not going to allow anything to come in between my pasta and me now.  Rolling time came, and I just forgot how tough it is to roll by hand.  Friends, I don't have a pasta machine.  Took me a whole hour to roll out, cut it into thin strips.  It was finally done, but not to my satisfaction, it was a bit thicker than I would've wanted. The thinner it is the sauce gets soaked in better. Then again I can get bit fussy.

Here goes my 'In a Rush Beetroot Pasta with Green Peas Masala', which is ridiculously yummy and hearty. It might be a little overwhelming at first but it's as simple as making the dough, roll, cut and boil,  You are adding couple of extra steps and whole lot of satisfaction. Remember though, without the pasta maker it is a bit difficult to roll it to paper thin, but it's not hard.  If you love pasta, and you've eaten fresh made pasta, you know, it's worth the effort right??

Three of us sat for dinner on our brown sofa finishing off a whole plate of pasta watching Lucy's Show and laughing, she is the best comedian I know.

BEET TOMATO PASTA with GREEN PEAS MASALA

Ingredients:

For the Pasta:
All purpose flour             - 2 cups
large eggs                      - 2
beet juice(fresh)           -  2 tbsp
tomato paste                 - 1 tbsp
olive oil                        - 2 tsp
salt                               - 1/2 tsp

For the Green Peas Masala:
Green Peas                   - 1 cup
onion                           - 1
tomato                        - 1
ginger/garlic paste       -  1 tsp
almonds                      -  15
jeera                          - 1/4 tsp
garam masala              - 1/4 tsp
chilly powder              - 1/2 tsp
salt                            - 1 tsp or according to taste
pepper                       - 1/4 tsp
oil                              - 2 tsp
sugar                          - 1/2 tsp optional

Method:

For the pasta:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the pasta dough to a tight tough dough.  Knead it well for about 10 minutes.  If using a food processor, process it for around 5 minutes.  Let it rest for a minimum of 1 hour.  At this point you can refrigerate this dough over night, and bring it to room temperature before rolling it out.
2.  Cut the dough into fourths.  With one portion, roll it out very very thinly, as thin as you can and cut it into very thin ribbon strips with a sharp knife.
3.  Use little all purpose flour on the cut strips from sticking together.
4.  After everything is cut.  BOIL a quart of water, add little salt and little oil.  Bring it to a boil and add the pasta in it.  Let it cook for 4 minutes, drain it out and keep aside.

For the Green Peas Masala:
1. Grind the onion, tomato and almonds to a fine paste.
2.  In a pan, add oil, add jeera, once it sputters, add the paste and cook it for 3 minutes.  
3.  Add chilly powder, garam masala and salt and cover and cook for 5 minutes. 
4.  Add a cup of water and let it cook for another 10 minutes or until the raw smell of the onions are gone.  
5.  At this stage add the peas(I used frozen), and cover and cook for another 5 minutes.
If you are using fresh peas, add it at step 3 itself.
6.  Last add some pepper and sugar. 

MIX the pasta and Masala and serve it hot.  
ENJOY!!!

ZUCCHINI PIZZA WITH GREEN CHUTNEY

        “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.”- Yogi Berra

                Hi there friends, HAPPY SUNDAY!!





The story of two hours minus the boys.

Today,  our home was silent from all the hustle and bustle from the kids.  It's been a 

while.  I remember  years ago, that a two hour drive, watching a movie and discussing it later was a norm.  The paradigm totally shifts once you have kids, we love all the chaos, but a controlled environment is fun too for couple of hours. 

 With coffee mugs in our hands and hours to ourselves felt odd.
  



I had some leftover pizza dough sitting in the fridge and a huge batch of zucchini from a friends's garden.
And what was better than that,  Mr G offered to help with the pictures and I didn't deny him the pleasure.

The next hour was like a military drill with Drill Sergeant G:
1. Set up the board, give me the pizza- take pics
2. Add the zucchini next to it  -   take pics
3. Set up the cheese                 - take pics
4. Hold the reflector properly...
5. Move the table to the lighted spot
6. Slice the pizza - take pics..
7. Move quickly, the lights going...
Should I be thrilled the next time he offers?? 





 Time to pick up the boys. He went and I enjoyed my zucchini pizza, all by myself. I deserve it.

Now to our pizza. The dough is awfully easy, dump, stir and let rise. It's is a thin crust mixed grain pizza, topped with pesto or green chutney spread all over with thinly sliced zucchini.  Do you believe when people say, 'it tastes way better than it's name and looks"?.  THIS WAS one of that.

ZUCCHINI MULTI GRAIN PIZZA WITH GREEN CHUTNEY/PESTO

Ingredients:

For the Pizza Base:

1 1/2 cup of Bread flour or All purpose flour

1 cup of Whole wheat flour

1/4 cup of rye flour

1/4 cup of cornmeal

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp instant active dryyeast 

1 tsp olive oil

1 cup of warm water(110 degrees)

For the GREEN CHUTNEY:

• 1 cup of basil
• 1 cup of coriander
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 green chilly
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp pine nuts
• 1/2 tsp salt or accordingly
• few turns of pepper 
• 
  
• Yellow and Green Zucchini thinly sliced

Method:

For the dough:

1.  Add the yeast in warm water with sugar and let it foam for 5 minutes, if it doesn't foam, chuck it and start a new batch.

2.  Once it rises and foams, with a paddle attachment in your mixer, add the flour, salt, oil and the yeast mixture.  Run the mixture on low till it forms a ball.  Let it run for 10 more minutes for the dough to activate the gluten.  Alternatively, if you have big muscle, you can work the dough by hand, which will take some time..

3. Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

For the Green Chutney/Pesto

1.  Add all the ingredients and grind to a thick paste and keep aside.

Putting it together:

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Divide your pizza dough into 2.  Roll the half to a thin sheet.

3.  Spread the green chutney over it to a thin layer.

4.  Arrange the zucchini in a pattern all around.  

5.  Brush a little olive oil on top and sprinkle with little salt and Italian seasoning.

6.  Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

Serve with some salad or alone, perfect anyway.
Note- if you don't have rye or cornmeal, you can add the equal quantity of whole wheat flour.

ENJOY!!

CONDENSED Milk Cookies - a simple 5 ingredient eggless cookie

                 
                                          "C is for cookie and cookie is for me!"- Cookie Monster                                     

Hope you had fun with fireworks and food!!

 As far as making cookies go, I am ready for them any time of the day.  Maybe I was meant to be a bakers daughter. I can eat them anytime and I can bake them anytime.  They have become my obsession.  I also want to do a weekly dedication to cookies from around the world.  Ain't that a fun idea?

I have loyalties towards my cookies, I hope that there is an unsaid limit to the number of cookies a food blogger can post.





With kids dunking their hand in the empty cookie jar and looking at me, 'like where did all that go'..It was time to make another batch.  Sitting in the refrigerator was  half a can of condensed milk which had to be used and what other better way than make these cute cut out Condensed MILK Cookies.  If I could wrap them and stem them up, I would, they looked adorable.

After they were cut and baked did my little one realize we had flower shaped cookies. He started screaming out 'I am not a girl', 'I don't wanna girly cookies

'.  After a quick funny moment, he gave in to the smell and a huge batch of cute cookies staring back at him.

The batch might not last long, you have to wait to see my next cookie in action.
These cookies are perfect as sandwich cookies, I would drizzle them with a jam or marmalade to amp them up a bit, not for looks alone but compliments in flavor quite well. 

CONDENSED MILK COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
• 1/4 can of condensed milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Method:

1. Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, maybe about 3-5 minutes
2. Add in the condensed milk+vanilla extract and beat for 30 seconds and add it to the butter mixture
3. Sift the all purpose flour + baking powder + salt.
4.  Mix in the dry ingredients slowly and use a spatula to  mix and form a smooth dough
5.  Now you could put it in a cookie press  or roll it out in between wax sheets and cut it to desired shapes
6. Bake at 350 degrees in a pan lined with parchment for 15-20 minutes or check it after after 15 minutes until the bottoms are light brown.  Cool on a rack.
7.  Melt the jam a little to drizzle consistency and decorate the cookies.  Cool and store.

Enjoy!!

Chicken Wings - Spicy Masala Wings- turn up the heat!!

A Recipe has no soul.  You as a the cook must bring soul to the recipe. - Thomas Keller



Happy July Friends. Hope your weekend was good with perfect weather.

Mine I can say was hot and irritating.  Our a/c is not working and it was 100 in the Bay. Thankfully I got a chance to stay in the skating ring with my preteen, safe for 3 hours while my little baby played cricket for hours in the burning heat.  I also had a brilliant but impractical idea of driving around so we don't have to walk into the oven.  Well, that did not happen, I wonder why.
                           
I chose to ignore the heat and make some dinner with some reluctance.. I've been in a cooking coma for a few days now. So, the plan of action was not to sweat over the stove, and to use my oven instead. Coming to think of it  I should have used the grill,  well, just goes to show that the heat has done a number on my brain.  I should have followed my fellow blogger friend Kiran from Kiran and Tarun who has been cooking up a storm on her grill.

I made these sticky spicy masala chicken wings for the first time last year for a backyard party and it was enjoyed and spoken about for days.  When I say this was spicy, it was 'drink  a tub of buttermilk' spicy but in a good way.  I guess it's the addiction of pain to the senses..which we all love, right?

I baked em' in the oven this time, minus the smoky flavor it was all that and if not yummier. If you prefer the smokiness, go for the grill and keep the sauce ready to mix in just before serving.  I promise you, you will be a kitchen superstar, but let's keep the secret sauce a secret, will ya?;)

On a different topic, I am excited to show off my new header, what do you think about it?  We still have to work on it, this is what a Sunday got us to. My alter ego needs longer hair and a longer face. Any and every feedback is good.

For now here goes the famous TURN UP THE HEAT Chicken Wings with Secret Sauce.

CHICKEN WINGS with SPICY MASALA

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 2 pounds chicken wings
• 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• Mix everything and marinate overnight or atleast 2 hours

For the Sauce:

• 10 cloves of garlic very thinly sliced
• 5 green chillies  thinly sliced(as per your taste, please DO NOT SUE ME..)
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp any chilly sauce(I used maggi hot and sweet sauce)
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp cornstarch.
• 1/2 cup fresh pineapple or orange juice(no canned stuff)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 stem green onions or scallions finely chopped
• 1 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves finely chopped
• 1 tsp vegetable oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 400 degrees.  Put the marinated chicken wings in one layer on a pan which is lined with aluminium wrap and topped with a grill dripper. Bake for 20 minutes until crispy. You can baste the chicken with the marinade once during the baking process.
 In case of no oven, you could saute the chicken in a non stick pan until it is cooked and crispy.

2.  In a saute pan, add 1 tsp of oil.  Keep it on very low heat, add the sliced garlic, green chillies and fry for 2 minutes.  Then add the garam masala, soy sauce, hot sauce and mix.

3. In the pineapple or orange juice, mix cornstarch very well ad add it to the pan, and mix it continuously.  Once it thickens and has a good consistency, turn off the heat and taste to see if you need salt, add a little if needed.
Add the ground pepper, scallions.

4.  Mix the grilled or baked chicken while the sauce is hot and toss well.
Serve it immediately with some chopped coriander.
ENJOY with some chilled drink to cool off your tongue.