Kiwi Margarita

This was pretty much an extempore thing. I had about 2 pounds of kiwis and was thinking about making something from it but due to the tartness involved with kiwis, nothing came up to my mind, when it striked me to make margaritas ! with a zippy kick-in-the pants, a great new way to enjoy an old favorite!!

I do not strictly follow the recipe or ingredients, I pretty much made with what I had.

1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) tequila (Gold, Corzo- 100% agave blanco any)
1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon superfine granulated sugar , I used the agave nectar, better than sugar
1 pony (1-ounce) Triple Sec or Cointreau , I did not use triple sec or Cointreau as I find my drinks too sweet with their addition.
2 kiwis peeled and cubed.

Combine the sugar, tequila, triple sec, kiwis, and lime juice in a blender; fill with ice cubes; blend until smooth.

Enjoy!!

Nariyal Poori (coconut stuffed pooris)

I made this few days back but was too tied up to post it. True late afternoon snack to munch on and a totally different taste.I like the idea of stuffing the puri with this and frying it.And the idea of using semolina (sooji, rawa, cream of wheat) is nice instead of the plain flour, and it gives a nice crunch to poori.See for yourself , whether you like it or not!

Ingredients:

2 cups Fine semolina ( rava/suji)

2 tbsps Oil

Salt to taste

1 cup Coconut (scraped)

3-4 Green chillies (finely chopped)

4 tbsps Fresh coriander leaves (chopped)

1/2 cup Gram flour (besan)

Whole wheat flour (atta)for dusting

Oil for frying

Method:

Take semolina in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, salt and enough water and knead into a dough. Cover with a damp cloth and rest for two hours.Take coconut in a bowl. Add green chillies, coriander leaves, gram flour and salt and mix well.Make small puris of the dough. Place a portion of coconut stuffing in the centre and close the edges and shape into a ball. Roll in atta and roll out into puris.Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep fry till light golden and crisp.Drain and place on an absorbent paper and serve hot.

I had some extra dough left so I made the plain crisy pooris (small ones) for my son.
I love the plain crunchy pooris with achar, mmmmmmmmm my favorite afternoon snack.

Potato Choka with Pepper Jack Cheese /Coconut -Cilantro Rice

This is going to "Tried and Tasted" event hosted by Zlamushka of Zlamushka's spicy kitchen.

The event is to cook dishes from other blogs. This month it is Cynthia's blog "Tastes like home".

I have tried two of her recipes. One is the Potato choka and the other one is Coconut-Cilantro Rice.
I have modified the recipes and tried to experiment going with the concept of fusion food.


I made Potato choka with Pepper Jack cheese. I wanted to see how this cheese blends with potatoes and it was amazing.

I have followed Cynthia's recipe, but omitted the green onions and skimped on the hot pepper as the cheese already had peppers in it.

Potato Choka

Yield: 1½ cups

Ingredients

1 pound potatoes, peeled
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Hot pepper to taste, minced
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (white and green parts)
2 tablespoons finely diced mixture of red and white onions

Method

1. Add potatoes, water and salt to a saucepan and bring to a boil, covered
2. Cook potatoes until fork tender
3. Fire-roast the potatoes on the open flames of your gas stove or outdoor grill, using tongs (let the potatoes get a little charred)
4. Mash potatoes in a bowl with the oil
5. Add pepper to taste and mix in green, white and red onions. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary
6. Serve with roti or rice

The other dish I made was Coconut- Cilantro rice:

I have modified this recipe also.

I did not use green onions. I did not make paste of coconut, cilantro, nor did I toasted the coconut. I used coconut milk to cook the rice instead of water and then I fried the fresh scraped coconut along with ginger and green chilies. And the best thing I did was I squeezed some fresh lime over the rice and boy it added a refreshing flavor to the rice.

Cynthia's recipe:
Coconut-Cilantro Rice

Ingredients

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
(1st use – 1 tbsp to sauté ginger and chillies)
(2nd use – 2 tbsp to make coconut-cilantro paste)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped chili
3 cups basmati rice, washed
4 ¼ cups water
Salt to taste
1 cup freshly grated coconut, toasted
2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped
4 green onions sliced thinly (white and green parts)

Method

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in sauce pot and gently cook the ginger and chili stirring until softened (about 1 minute)
2. Add rice to pot and stir (about 30 seconds)
3. Add water and salt to taste, cover and bring to a boil
4. Reduce heat to simmer when you begin to see the surface of the rice (within 5 – 6 mins). Cook covered for 20 minutes or until all the moisture is absorbed.
5. Meanwhile, heat a pan on medium heat and toast the grated coconut until golden brown (about 10 – 12 minutes)
6. Remove pan from heat and let coconut cool completely
7. Place cilantro, coconut and remaining oil in a food processor or pound and grind to a paste using a mortar and pestle. Add salt to taste

Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse

Ya, ya, ya. I know, after a prolonged hibernation I am back in the blogging world.
I was in India for three months, yes you read that right. I went after 6 years and my little sister was getting married, so thought about taking a nice long vacation.

So! I am back!

Here is dessert recipe which I tried out few days back. This is such a decadent tasting dessert. It has few ingredients and takes no time to make it.
Plus I personally love it as it does not have eggs.

Ingredients:

8 ounces dark chocolate, grated or crushed

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Place grated chocolate in bowl. Pour 1/3 of whipping cream in a small pan and cook on low heat almost to a boil. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and cinnamon and blend gently and well. Set aside. In an electric mixer, add the remaining whipping cream until firm consistency. Incorporate the chocolate mixture using a wooden spoon. Add cocoa blend gently and well. Refrigerate the mousse for several hours.

Ginger-Jalapeño Semifreddo

I have never posted any good dessert recipe on my blog, because I don't have that kind of a sweet tooth. I hate ice-creams,but at the same time I love frozen yogurt, sorbets, slush, granita, Italian ice etc. And the thing that tops above all is the Indian Kulfi. I just love that. I can never say no to it. I came across the Ginger-Jalapeño Semifreddo recipe long time back and wanted to make it but never really got a chance, until yesterday. My son wanted something for dessert and I had this heavy whipping cream in the refrigerator and other ingredients too so thought why not make the semifreddo. And the good thing about this Semifreddo is it doesn't have eggs in it.

This is really a very good combination. When I tasted this, the ginger jumps right out at you and the jalapeño gives you a little background heat and spicyness. You can add more jalapeño while boiling the milk to have more heat in the dessert.

Here is the recipe:

1 jalapeno, halved lengthwise

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup superfine sugar

2-inch piece ginger

2 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line a small loaf pan or other mold with plastic wrap, leaving some plastic wrap hanging over the edges.
Combine jalapeno, whole milk and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a saucepan and heat until steaming, stirring often. Remove milk from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Peel and grate ginger and squeeze the gratings to release ginger juice. Stir into milk mixture.
Combine heavy cream, remaining sugar and vanilla extract and whip to soft peaks. Fold into milk mixture.
Transfer to prepared pan and freeze until set.
Remove semifreddo by pulling evenly on opposite ends of the plastic wrap lining.

You can make this well ahead of time, even days. Just make sure to keep tightly covered or sealed in plastic bag so no freezer flavors are absorbed.

I could not take good pictures as this thing started melting. Actually I forgot to freeze the plate I was serving this on to. So make sure you freeze the plate when you serve this, that way it won't start melting right away.

Chinese Five spice Paneer Tikka

Paneer Tikka!! When you hear this words, you start visualizing this succulent, slabs of paneer baked in tandoor oozing with butter and has this wonderful grilled aroma. For me, that's absolute heaven. But I thought of taking Paneer Tikka to a whole new level with this different spice to see how it fares and I leave it to you for the final verdict.

So here is my Chinese Five Spice Paneer Tikka

Chinese five-spice powder is a spice mixture commonly used in Chinese cooking. It is a combination of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and szechuan peppercorns. There are variations to it too. Some people use nutmeg and dry ginger. And some people use black peppercorns since Szechuan peppercorns are not easily available.

I used fennel seeds, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and black peppercorns.

To make the five spice powder:

1 tbsp Fennel seeds
2 big sticks Cinnamon

6-8 whole cloves

15-20 Black peppercorns or 1/2 tsp Szechuan peppers

2 Star anise (whole)

Dry grind the above ingredients in a blender or coffee grinder and use as required.

Method

Since this is my own creation, I just eyeball the ingredients. I don't have precise measurements of the ingredients.

I took about a pound of home made paneer and cut it into bite size rectangular slabs.

Now for the marinade:

I used ginger-garlic paste, soy sauce, Tamari sauce, salt, vinegar, five spice powder, rice flour and cornstarch and 2 tbsp of yogurt and mixed everything together to marinate the paneer pieces. I marinated them overnight and next day I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (200 degrees Celsius) for 15-20 minutes and after that broiled them for 5 minutes to give them a nice grilled look.

When baking in the oven line the baking sheet with foil and use the cooking spray or brush it with butter and then when you place the paneer pieces, spray once again with the cooking spray or brush them with melted butter. After they are done brush them once again with butter. This is optional, it just gives better flavor.

You can use the grill if you have one to make this paneer tikka . You can skewer the marinated paneer pieces with diced onions, green peppers and red peppers and grill it till its done. And sprinkle them with some lemon juice and five spice powder.

I sauteed the diced onion and peppers in little oil till they sweat a little bit and then skewered the paneer pieces along with onions and peppers in my plastic skewers to make it easy for my kids.

For more heat and spicyness you grind green chilies and add to the marinade and then once the tikkas are done sprinkle more of the five spice powder for intense heat and flavor.

The other nice thing about cooking with Five Spice Powder is not only the intense flavor that it adds to the food but also the beautiful perfume it imparts to the entire house.

Melon, Mint and Lime salad

As you know by now I am a sucker for good salads. And this one really is a fresh take, on amalgamating different textures and flavors. I was seriously doubting about the ingredients that goes into this salad. But once I tasted it, I would say, it definitely has the wow factor.

Super refreshing, cool salad.

I have used the Jellied Mint Sauce in this salad. You can find that in most American grocery stores in Jelly and Spreads isle. You can certainly use fresh mint for this, but the jellied sauce has both Spearmint and Peppermint and has great taste so try to use the jelly and see how you like it. There are two varieties, Mint jelly and Mint sauce, both has same ingredients. Except that the mint sauce has two mints in it.

For the salad:

1/2 cup mint jelly or mint sauce (jellied)

1 lime, juiced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 melon, cantaloupe or honey dew, peeled, and cut into cubes

4 radishes, thinly sliced

1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

Mint sprigs, for garnish

In a medium shallow bowl, whisk together jelly, lime juice and olive oil. Add the melon and veggies and toss. Season salad with salt and pepper and serve with mint sprigs.