Beetroot and goat's cheese salad

Two years ago when I visited France, especially the reviera, there was goat's cheese galore! Everywhere us three gals went 'chèvre chaud' (hot goat's cheese) followed :)
Honestly, at the end of our ten days I was quite sick of it. However now the sight of this unique smelling cheese and we all go crazy pouncing on it. Here I am sharing one of my most cherished and fun to make salad recipe that would see u through many a continental dinners.
Beetroot and chèvre salad
Ingredients

pic courtesy: http://www.taste.com.au

1 bunch of arugula leaves
2 peeled and cut beetroot
Fistful brown sugar
250gms of goat's cheese
150gms of boiled black lentils
100gms of baby tomatoes halved
A few basil leaves
For the dressing:
3tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 and a 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Boil the beetroot along with a cinnamon stick, star anise and a fistful brown sugar until the beetroot becomes soft and fragrant. Now on the bed of fresh arugula leaves, put the beetroot, halved tomatoes And boiled lentils. Lastly crumble the goats's cheese on top and then throw in some basil leaves. For the dressing, mix together olive oil and balsamic vinegar and seasoning. Drizzle on the salad. Let it seep in for 10 mins until the leaves soften a bit and then bit into this heavenly salad. Enjoy a piece of France on your plate :) Bon appetit!!

The invaluable Golden syrup

pic source: bbc.co.uk; golden syrup

There are a few ingredients in most of the dessert recipes that are simply gorgeous! Golden syrup is one such ingredient. You can use it on top of pancakes, as the special ingredient to cakes and puddings or just to dunk donuts in. While I truly believe its not worth the effort to make it at home, it certainly is a lot cheaper and a whole lot better when you take the effort to cook up this liquid gold. One of the patrons, Pinky Mistry happened to ask me for the same on mail, so I thought might as well share the good deed with everyone.. hahaha!

I took my recipe from Tod's kitchen, and although I buy one usually, this recipe worked brilliantly as an at home experiment for golden syrup. Here goes:

In a saucepan put in a 100gms of sugar and add 2 tbsp of water to it. put on heat. now keep stirring so that the sugar dissolves well and then start caramelising slowly and steadily. once the mixture reaches a dark golden color add 300 ml of BOILING water to it. Now stir around to loosen up the caramel so it takes to the boling water well. Now add 1/2 kilo of sugar to the pan and stir. that's it, now all that you need to do is to let this simmer for about 35-40 min. once done, the consistency of this mixture would still be liquidy. seive it into a sterilised bottle. let it cool for an hour or so. After an hour, this liquid should have turned into a honey like consistency. Which is when your golden syrup is ready :). You can store it for months at end in a cool dry place.

Will soon share the recipes in which it is the core ingredient. For now, as I said, enjoy the liquid gold'. 

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