Dark Chocolate Coated Strawberries

Recently, I kind of became famous for my cakes and cupcakes and few of my friends demanded for some. I took it as an opportunity to improve my decorating skills. I wanted to make fresh strawberry frosting and I needed only one strawberry, but the stores sell a whole basket. So I had to buy them and think of making something out of them.
Luckily, my husband's cousin and her husband were visiting us in LA (For the first time). And I thought of making some chocolate dipped strawberries for them.

Ingredients:
Big-sized strawberries - 12
Good Quality Dark chocolate (Chopped/ chips) - 2 ounces
Good Quality White chocolate (Chopped/ chips) - 1/2 ounce
Butter - 1/2 tspn + 1/4 tspn
Parchment Paper

Method of Preparation:

1. Wash some big sized strawberries and dry them well and keep them aside.
2. Put the butter and chocolate together in a microwaveable bowl (Prefer to use glass bowl) and microwave it for a minute on med heat.
3. Take it out and stir it and repeat step 2 till the chocolate is completely melted.
4. OR
5. On a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter till chocolate is completely melted.
6. Now hold the stem of the strawberry and dip them in the molten chocolate and place it on a parchment paper
7. Now in similar way,  you can melt white chocolate and using a fork, just garnish the strawberries (I did not do this step as I ended up burning the chocolate as I did not use the microwaveable bowls)
8. Place them in the refrigerator and relish them after an hour or so.

Variation:

You can use milk chocolate or any other type of chocolate.

If you don't have butter, you can directly melt the chocolate chips without it and it will still taste the same.

Conclusion:

Strawberries put to good use and an amazing desert made in minutes.

Bharwa Bhindi (Stuffed Oakra/Bhindi Masala)

We were being hosts for the December(2010) last weekend which was a vacation for me and my husband. So we had a few friends and family visiting us from all over US. Our friends (Deepak & Aditi) who studied with us at USC (University of Southern California) live in San Jose and often read my Facebook posts on cooking. So I decided to cook some Chicken curry and Shrimp Biryani for them. My only problem was that Aditi was Vegetarian! I looked in my refrigerator and found Bhindi/Oakra and immediately thought of Bharwa Bhindi.

Ingredients:
Bhindi /Oakra (Washed & Dried) - 1LB
Onion - 1 medium sized
Coriander Powder - 2 TBspn
Cumin Powder - 2 tspn
Sambhar Powder - 2 tspn
Amchur Powder - 1/2 tspn
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tspn
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn
Salt - 2/3 tspn
Oil - 2 TBspn

Method of Preparation:

• Slit the Bhindi/Oakra lengthwise and keep it aside.

• Now mix all the powders together.
• Fill the Bhindi/Oakra with the mixture.

• Now cut the onion into half and now make vertical slices.
• Put 1 Tbspn oil in a pan and saute the onions till slightly translucent

• Now add the Bhindi/Oakra to the pan and saute them on High Flame. Add the remaining oil after 2 mins and then lower the heat to Medium.
• Occasional stirring is required so that it doesn't burn but do not stir it too much else the masala will fall out.

• Quick and easy Bharwa Bhindi/Stuffed Oakra will be ready in 10 minutes.
• Now take a picture of the end result and sit back and enjoy it!!

Variation:

You can use Lime juice instead of amchur powder. Also, if you have curry leaves chutney or powder, you can add that to the powder mixture.

Conclusion:

My friends really loved it and also asked how I made it. My husband loves this kind of Bhindi/Oakra over other styles. The sambhar powder does the magic!!

Healthy Potato Chips

I had recently made the Turkey patty and my Husband demanded the Spicy Turkey Patty Burger for dinner. I was so sure that he wouldn't eat only turkey burger, he needs some kind of side dish with it (it's his food habits, can't blame him). So I thought of making Potato Chips with it.

This was a simple recipe I found online and I had to experiment with it with some modifications to it.

Objective: 

An accompaniment with Turkey burger.

Ingredients:
Red Potatoes Sliced Paper-thin  - 3

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Ground Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon (Optional)

Parchment Paper

Oil - 2 tbspoon

Method of Preparation:

1. Place the parchment paper on a dinner plate or microwave turntable.
2. Put the potato slices in a ziploc bag with oil in it and mix the potatoes well.
3. Place one slice at a time on the parchment paper (Do not overlap)
4. Put it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes (Depending on the power of the microwave. I burnt my first lot due to the high power of my microwave)
5. Let the slices be golden brown (Else they won't be crispy enuff)
6. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the slices and let them cool
7. Repeat the procedure till all the slices are done.

Variations:

You can add cajun flavoring or any other flavoring as per your taste.

Conclusion:

Happy Husband who would (hopefully) not complain that there was no side dish. :)

These taste like the store bought ones but much more healthier.