Happy Foodie year to you- part 1

Baked mushrooms with ricotta & pesto

Something Stylish is in order for the new year bash you are throwing tonight. All you need to do is to NOT slave over the stove but bring a few shop bought ingredients together and impress your guests with this yummy starter!

You need to buy:
2 packets of button mushrooms
1 bottle extra virgin olive oil
250g tub of ricotta cheese (or any other crumbly cheese of your choice)
1 bottle of green basil pesto

pic courtesy-italianfoodforever.com

Ingredients:
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 packets of button mushrooms
250g tub of ricotta cheese (or any other crumbly cheese of your choice)
2 tbsp green basil pesto
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or coriander to serve

 

 

Method:

Now preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius. Take a large ovenproof dish in which u can fit in all the mushrooms (minus the stems) in one layer. grease it with a spoonful of oil.
Core the mushrooms from the stems.
Mix the ricotta, pesto and garlic and fill the mushrooms till they are more than full up.
Just sprinkle over some parmesan and thrown in a bit of extra virgin oilve oil.
bake for about 20 minutes until the cheese is golden in color and mushrooms have cooked through. Serve with sprinkling of parsley leaves on top. Hot or at room temperature is just fine!

love, Anu

Happy foodie year to you! Part 2

Bringing in the new year with a last minute get together of friends. Here's a starter you can make fast with a lot of flavour and taste on offer. How you ask? There are three variations I offer that you can make in the same style of cooking. Saves time like how!

Kurkuri basket!!

Sounds quite appetizing already? The kurkuri basket will have a few vegetables, potatoes, paneer etc in their best that is crunchy form. and guess what? you can make a non veg platter for the same as well.

Ingredients:
1 cup each of boiled and mashed potato, sweet potato,
1 cup grated paneer
1/2 cup chopped mint and corainder leaves (dhaniya and pudhina patta)
1/2 cup of onion- optional
some chopped green chillies- as per taste
1 tsp cumin powder (jeera powder) 
pinch of aamchoor powder (dry mango powder)
salt to taste

for the batter:
1/2 cup of all purpose flour (maida)
1/3 cup of poha (flattened rice)


Method:
Bring together potato,onion,chilli and dhaniya along with jeera, aamchoor powder and salt and make into small balls. You can do combinations of your choice with mixing sweet potato with mint leaves and paneer with a bit of other chopped veggies and potato and give them any shape you like.
Now, in a flat dish combine the maida and a little water to make a smooth but thick paste.
Now dunk the potato, sweet potato and paneer balls in the paste and then roll them in the poha properly in order to get a good crunch!
Deep fry the balls until golden brown.
Drain extra oil on a tissue and serve in a cute basket with chutney and dips of your choice. I like the basic ketchup pretty good as an accompaniment.
Aint this a cool thing to do? you get three flavors in one go and they are something hattke from the conventional pakoras. Maze lo!!


Love, Anu

Chocolate on a spoon


Have a lot of leftover chocolates from various parties, places and return gifts sitting in your fridge?

Melt it all together in a double boiler. You can add anything u like to the liquid chocolate- dry fruit, canned fruit, rice crispies or flavorings like hazelnut extract etc. Now take small plastic paper cups (cutting chai cups are the best for these). Pour the cooled down chocolate into them. let it set a bit outside before refrigerating. Once the chocolate reaches semi solid condition, take a wooden ice lolly stick or a wooden disposable spoon and insert in the centre of the chocolate cup.
note: The chocolate consistency at this time should be such that the stick or the spoon stays straight and doesn't wobble down or slide out.

Chocolate on a spoon for any time hot chocolate!!!

Now you can happily let this refrigerate till totally set or the chocolate takes the shape of the cup. Once set, you can take the chocolate out of the plastic cup mold and wrap it in plastic with a tiny ribbon. you can use these chocolate on spoons to make instant hot chocolate. Just add 200 ml hot milk to your favourite mug or cup and dunk this spoon in it. Wait for it to melt slowly as you sip on the heavenly drink on a cold winter night.
hot tip: you can always pack some mini marshmellows, a stick of cinnamon or peanut butter on top of the set chocolate on a spoon. it would add the extra touvh to your cuppa hoooooottt chocolate.

Enjoy it!

love, Anu

Christmas foodie goodies fatafat- Part 3


ICE CREAM CAKE IN A JAR

Desserts in a jar are a rage nowadays. And they make for great giveaways, especially when the dessert can be ready in 60 seconds. When Friends and family are more than full with the warm christmas party dinner, they can have the option of taking back a jar full of dessert that they may not be able to do full justice to! Pat comes out the icecream cake in a jar.
This recipe is an inspiration from Nigella Lawson's Ice cream that she expectedly whips up with express speed. I have changed a few ingredients and shifted the delightful experience into a jar.

yummy chocolate icecream cake!! pic courtesy wordpress.com

All you need are some fresh fruit say bananas, straw berries (the fruit that goes well with chocolate), bashed-up Oreo biscuits, some nice chocolate syrup, a few tiny marsh mellows, and a rich chocolate sponge cake or loaf. Now, to a tub of vanilla ice cream, add all the above ingredients except for the cake. In a mason glass jar, place a layer of the dense chocolate loaf and then a layer of the rich ice cream that has the yummy Oreos and marshmallows in it and then put a layer of some of the diced fruit. Repeat the same layering until the jar is full. Top with chocolate-coated nuts if you wish. And yeah, the Christmas edible sparkle has to feature here as well :-)

Hot tip: While you are more than welcome to make a sponge, I would say don't break your back making the sponge from the start, just buy a good quality one and make this dessert. Theobroma and Moshe’s chocolate loaf is perfect for this recipe!!

Christmas foodie goodie fatafat! part 2

HOKEY POKEY IN A JAR

It's that time of the year when everyone truly enjoys having family and friends over for a feisty celebratory meal together.And Christmas is not just about food but about food for joy, food that sparkles. So here's another quick fix-put in a colorful jar recipe which doesn't take long at all.

hokey pokey in a box!!

HOKEY POKEY: The traditional hokey pokey is brilliantly popular with the English but it can always get apna desi touch :-) It makes for a great Christmas gift as well. It is brilliant to have on its own but you can use it as a great accompaniment to ice creams, with your bowl of cereal, coated with chocolate, as a layer in a mousse cake and even with fresh berries!! Here's how we do it:

Ingredients:
100 gms granulated sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 & a 1/2 tsp  soda bicarb

Method:
Put the sugar and golden syrup in a thick bottomed pan and stir together. Now put the pan on heat and do not stir. Let the mixture melt and then turn gooey, bubbling into an amber colour, for not more than 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and add 1 ½ tsp of soda bicarb and watch the magic.

chocolate hokey pokey bars-goodies2much

The syrup will quickly bubble into a sparkling cloud like aerated, orangey gold.  Now quickly transfer the mixture on to a parchment or baking paper.
Now its time for you to give it your personal desi touch. You can add the Christmas flavours you like, for instance, some cut raisins, even some sharpness with ginger powder called soonth. You can also add my favourite of all ingredients, cinnamon. Of course, thereafter you have to break the big cloud into small pieces of magical,disappear-in-your mouth goodies. Dunk them in melted chocolate if you like and put them back on the parchment paper to dry.

I personally love hokey pokey as it is but specially for Christmas you can adorn it in a silver box with a dash of Christmassy edible glitter :-) Once the hokey pokey is sitting well inside, put a tag through a red and white ribbon and tie it to this golden happy gift. For more food fun, log onto mylittlekitchen.in

Merry Christmas!!!
love, Anu

Christmas foodie goodie fatafat

PANCAKE MIX IN JAR 

Who doesn’t love Christmas goodies? And when it comes to something better than goodies, it is clearly food :-)
Imagine giving away lovely fudge and cookies in beautiful glass jars, all decorated with Christmas ornaments and a small name tag! It’s an ‘Aha!’ moment for sure, but who has the time, right? Not to worry, I will give you quick recipes for delights that will be ready in a jiffy.

PANCAKE MIX IN JAR

chocolate chip pancake mix as Christmas gift

Every one loves a tinge of magic with flour. So why not make your very own pancake dry mix and present it in a jar? All you need to do is put in 300 gms of maida (all purpose flour), 1 tablespoon baking powder, a pinch of baking soda, and 3 tablespoons of castor sugar. To this, add 1 pod of vanilla (slit in the middle) for extra flavouring and some effect. Also you can add any sorts of added magic to it with condiments of dry cherries, prunes, cinnamon sticks or infact chocolate chips. Play with the quantities the way you want. Honestly you can never have enough chocolate!!!

Now, on a colorful sheet of paper, write instructions for use: ‘Break 2 eggs and add to this mix, with 200 ml of milk. This will make for a brilliant breakfast for the family after a nightlong Christmas party.’ Don’t forget to write your name on there, too!
For more fun in the kitchen log on to mylittlkitchen.in

love & joy to you, Anu

Pasta in Walnut and Coriander pesto!

My acquisition from the romantic European town of Venice.. So proud that I could actually make a recipe inspired by the original pesto, except this time it was born out of the lack of basil in my fridge (or back garden, if you may please..haha!

Pasta in Walnut and Coriander pesto

 the new pesto sauce.

Here is the recipe:
INGREDIENTS-
for the pesto sauce:
1 bunch of coriander
5-6 kernels of walnuts
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
salt to taste
others:
1 cup of finely chopped button mushrooms
6 cloves of garlic
A packet of pasta

METHOD-
The best way to make a pesto is to use the age old method of using mortar and pestle. The flavour is actually in the coriander stem, so don't throw them away. Instead chop them finely along with the leaves and crush them together in the mortar. add olive oil bit by bit so that it becomes a bit sauce-ish!! now add all the crushed walnuts, chilly flakes and salt and keep at it until it all comes together into a greenish gooey sauce. Your coriander pesto is ready.
Now for the remaining additions. Boil the pasta till 'al dente' i.e. just done. If you don't want the fancy ones, spaghetti will do just fine. To add to the sauce, in a pan, put garlic along with olive oil and wait for it to give out some fragrance. Then add the chopped mushrooms and fry them for about a minute or two. Add the pesto sauce and the past to it. Voila! your delicious meal is ready

hot tip: Always ensure that you add a huge load of water in the pot for the pasta to boil. bring it to a boil first before adding the pasta. Also adding a pinch or two of salt will keep the water boiling continuously so that the pasta cooks well and in good time :-)
Love, Anu