Tiramisu - afoodiecancooktoo's First Anniversary Special

It was a foodie can cook too's first anniversary and I totally forgot about it - Yes, it was my biggest blunder ever! I posted my first blogpost on Jan 19th 2011 and I was super excited about it. I remember the first few days when I used to just think about the different things I could try and post on my blog, how I could enhance my photography skills so that the pics look more professional and so on. I even bought some nice plates and bowls and some other decorative stuff.
To make it up for the forgotten first anniversary of my blog, ,I decided to make Tiramisu and so I go and get all the ingredients and decide to make one and write the blogpost as well. But then I found some time to finally write the post and post it. Phew! It has been a very busy month.
Anyway, this Tiramisu was made sipping on some Chianti (2005) and definitely gave better results ;-). Try that some time.

Ingredients: 
Soft Lady Fingers - 24
Mascarpone Cheese - 8 oz
Whipped Cream - 1/3 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/4 tspn
Eggs, separated - 3
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Salt - a pinch
Chocolate Liquor - 2 tbspns (Optional)
Instant Coffee - 2 tbspns
Hot Water - 1.5 cups
Cocoa Powder/chocolate shavings - 2-3 tbspns
Marsala Wine - 3 tbspns (Optional)

Procedure:

1. In a big bowl, beat sugar, vanilla essence and egg yolks together for 2-3 mins or till it is pale yellow in color. Add mascarpone cheese to it and beat till it is well blended and fluffy (a min or so).
2. Mix the coffee powder in hot water till it dissolves and let it cool. You can use espresso instead.
3. Then, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a clean bowl with a clean beater (not even a drop of water) till stiff white peaks form. Also, in another big mixing bowl, beat the whipped cream till peaks  form.
4. Now mix the mascarpone-egg yellow mixture in whipped cream and then add 1/3rd of the beaten whites and mix well. Now fold in all the whites and just mix well.
5. Now mix the chocolate liquor and marsala wine in the coffee mixture and keep it aside,
6. In a martini glass or a bowl, place the lady fingers as a layer and sprinkle/brush the coffee+Marsala+liquor mixture and then spread an even layer of the whites+mascarpone+yellows mixture. Sprinkle cocoa powder or chocolate shavings. Repeat this once or twice more.
7. Store it in the refrigerator for at least 24hours and then DIG IN and RELISH!!!

Variations:
Feel free to make changes to this recipe and experiment with your Tiramisu. I am sure you would love the end result ;-)

Conclusion:
I invited a bunch of friends over to celebrate this occasion and Oh Boy, it got over in a few minutes ;-). It was the best Tiramisu I ever made (I have tried once before but wasn't the best attempt)

Butter Chicken/Murgh Makhani

I have been away from my blog for more than 3 months and here I am back to blogging again. I tried to find some time from the Diwali Celebrations, shopping for India, packing - unpacking from the visit to India and 3 not-so-long weeks in India and finally managed to write a post today!
So the visit to India was just 3 weeks long and I was going to my home country after 2 years. I really missed my family and friends in those 2 years and most of all, I missed my 2 year old nephew - Arnav! He is the cutest thing on earth and I had a grrrrreat time with him. I felt like I was back in my childhood where I played all day and there were no worries in life. Although Arnav has a big worry - his Dad's car. He loves cars and is very possessive about his Dad's car. His possession goes to the extent that he sleeps with the car keys in hand so that no one else can take it. I can go on and on about him. I love him and miss him a lot!

Anyways, I had butter chicken a couple of times in India and I desperately wanted to make it. I tried making butter chicken before but it never turned like the usual butter chicken because I didn't have fresh cream on hand or I had the cluster tomatoes which are a little sour in taste. This time I made sure I bought all the ingredients to make butter chicken and guess what, it was a success!!


Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts, cut into pieces - 3
Onions paste/finely chopped - 1 medium
Tomatoes, pureed - 4 medium
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tspn
Fresh Cream/Whip cream - 1/2 cup
Ginger - Garlic Paste - 1+1/2 Tbspn
Cashew nut Paste/Powder - 2 tbspn
Butter - 1.5 Tbspn

Garam Masala:
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 2-3
Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch
Coriander Seeds - 1 Tbspn
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tspn
Methi Seeds - 1/4 tspn

Procedure:

1. Marinate chicken with 1/2 Tbspn ginger-garlic paste and keep aside.
2. Roast the items listed under garam masala and grind it and keep it aside.
3. Sautee onion paste and remaining ginger-garlic paste in the butter till the paste becomes golden. Add tomato puree to it and cook it till oil starts to separate and it turns a little darker and thicker. Now add the garam masala  (I made it fresh but you can use ready made), red chilli powder and cashew nut powder and cook for another 5 mins.
4. Now add the chicken and keep the gas on medium till the chicken is cooked. 
5. Once the chicken is cooked, add fresh cream to it and mix well. Serve with Naan or Jeera rice.

Variations: 
You can use half & half if you don't have fresh cream at home. Also, you can use yogurt to marinate the chicken and while cooking to make it tender.

Conclusion:
The third attempt at Butter Chicken turned really good. Fresh cream makes a difference for sure!

Sausage Stuffed Mushroom

I wanted to use the sausages I had at home and so I thought of making stuffed mushrooms as I was really bored of eating hot dogs Hollywood and Highland style. However stuffed you are, you cannot miss the hot dog stand at Hollywood and Highland. The lady sells them on the streets for $4 with some grilled onions and peppers. I am a big fan of that and so I tried replicating it at home, it was good but it was missing the "grease" :-)
So when it's my husband's turn to cook (which comes once in 2 months), he takes the easy route and makes the HH Hot Dog (or Pasta). He really puts loads of efforts in making it (even if he can cook in half the time and effort :-P). Coming back to the topic of stuffed mushrooms, I really wanted to try them as I had seen a very similar recipe on foodnetwork.com (by Rachael Ray). I had seen the ingredients in it but when I really wanted to make it, I never found the recipe :(. So I just winged it and it turned out really yummy.

Ingredients: 
Mushrooms (normal sized) - 1 pack
Herb Flavor Sausage - 1
Onions, finely chopped - 1 (medium)
Bell Peppers, finely chopped - 1/2
Garlic, minced - 2 pods
Cream Cheese - 3tbspn
Basil - 7-8 leaves
Cheese for Garnish - 2tbspn
Egg yolk - 1

Procedure: 

1. Wash and clean the mushrooms and remove the stem and chop them fine.
2. Sautee the mushrooms (not the stems) with their heads up so that the water is drained out. Switch off the heat and let them be in the pan for 3-6 mins so that all water from mushrooms is drained.
3. Now sautee the finely chopped onions, mushroom stems, garlic and bell peppers till they are cooked (8-10mins)
4. In the mean time, pre-heat the oven at 325 degrees. Remove the casing off the sausage and separate the meat. Cook this meat with the onions for another 3-4 mins.
5. Let this mixture cool.
6. Now mix egg yolk and cream cheese and then add the cooked mixture and mix well. 
7. Fill the mushrooms with the mixture and bake for 12-15mins on 325 degrees.

Variations: 
For vegetarians, it can be converted into a vegetarian dish by adding paneer/cottage cheese with some Parmesan cheese instead of the sausage.


Conclusion:

I served this with Alfred-Pesto Pasta. Every single bite of it was delicious. It is very heavy and filling so this recipe would hold 3-4 servings as a side dish. This is a very good appetizer for potlucks and game nights.

Butter Paneer Naanizza / Indian Style Pizza

I usually try to make things out of what I have in the inventory and/or what is perishable. So I had half of store-bought Paneer Packet left and some Naans. I remembered the Butter Paneer Pizza I had in San Jose when I went for a very good friend's Birthday Party. We had surprised her by visiting her all the way from Los Angeles.
Her Fiancee had organized the Birthday Party for her and had ordered Butter Paneer Pizza. It was sooo good that it got over in a few minutes.
So I thought I would try to make something similar with the ingredients I had.

Ingredients (for 4 people):
Paneer, pea sized cubes - 2 cups
Green Bell Peppers, 2" sliced - 1
Onions, sliced - 1
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1tspn (Optional)
Tandoori masala - 2Tbspn
Chicken Curry Powder - 1Tbspn
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tspn
Kasuri Methi - 1tspn (Optional)
Butter - 2Tbspn
Ketchup - 6-7 tbspn
Naan - 6
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded - 3 cups

Procedure: 

1. Pre-heat oven on 350 degrees.
2. Add Butter to pan and saute onions, bell peppers and ginger garlic paste for 2mins (Do not cook it). Then add Paneer and other ingredients and sautee for another 2mins. 
3. Spread ketchup on the Naan and distribute the mixture on the Naan evenly and sprinkle cheese on top
4. Now place the Naans in the oven for 8-12mins or till cheese has melted.

Variations: 
You can add chicken instead of Paneer. In that case, use cooked chicken breasts for best results.

Conclusion:

I was astonished with the results. They were yummy and were made in 20mins only.

Almond Torte

Almond torte is what I tasted at the Farmer's market in LA and loved it. So the baker in me wanted to bake it but was not sure how. So I referred to this site which had detailed instructions as well. So I tried making it twice and was kind of successful the third time (but I still need practice). Now you must be wondering what went wrong twice before!!!

First time, I ground the blanched almonds with sugar and then ground the sugar in the same container(1st mistake, no grease must be added to egg whites). Then I started beating the egg whites with an immersion blender (2nd mistake) and then added the ground sugar to it. So the egg whites never formed peaks. Experiment #1 failed terribly :-(
To improvise my mistake #2, I used an Indian style blender (3rd mistake) with a whip attachment and it failed again :-(. Thank god the eggs are not expensive :-) So my experiment failed twice and I was wondering what I did wrong.
I did it right the third time and whipped the eggs perfectly fine. I realized my mistake as I spoke to my sister-in-law who lives in North Carolina. We always discuss food and recipes as our husbands are total foodies. She pointed out that egg can beaten well with a stand mixer. Then I went to Target to buy a stand mixer for just $7 :-)


Ingredients: 
Room temperature Egg Whites - 3
Blanched Almonds - 1 cup + 1tbspn
Sugar - 1/3 cup + 1tspn
Lemon Juice - 2-3 drops
Salt - 1 pinch
Stand Mixer

Procedure: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a smaller than 8" pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Now sprinkle 1tbspn sliced almonds on it.
2. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks when cold and keep them out of refrigerator for at least 30mins. 
3. Now grind the blanched almonds with 1/3 cup sugar (I ground them in 2 batches for fineness) and keep it aside. Make sure you don't over grind the mixture else you will end up getting almond butter.
4. Now add lemon juice and salt to the egg whites and beat them with a hand mixer (do not use immersion blender. I made that mistake)
5. It will take few minutes for the soft peaks to form. Then add 1tspn sugar and beat for another 30secs or till stiff peaks form.
6. Fold the almond sugar mixture in the egg whites and pour it in the baking pan. Bake it for 45mins or till a knife comes out clean when inserted.

Variations: 
Like the others, you can add almond flavor but I didn't have it handy and also because I like natural flavors, I didn't add it. You can use 3/4tspn for strong almond flavor.

Conclusion:
Full of protein and 'Good' fats dessert is ready! It really tastes yummy although it could have been much better in texture (risen a little more).
It is good for health freaks (like my Hubby), foodie (again like my Hubby) and wannabe brainy (It's Me this time) ;-)

Shrimp Jambalaya

I am writing this as I am making the shrimp Jambalaya. This dish came to my mind thinking of the leftovers I had at home and I had marinated Cajun Chicken which was lying in the fridge for tonight's dinner. So to accompany the Cajun Chicken, I thought of making Shrimp Jambalaya (as I had shrimp in the freezer and no sausage or boneless chicken).
We eat this dish very often at The Farmer's Market. The name of the stall is The Gumbo Pot. First of all, I never knew what the difference in Jambalaya and Gumbo was. So I googled and found out that both the dishes belong to New Orleans (Southern Amrica) and both are spicy. The difference is with rice and without. Jambalaya has rice (lot of it!) and Gumbo doesn't! Jambalaya is a little thick, but Gumbo is soup-like with Oakra in it to give it a nice texture (although I do not like slimy Oakra).

Ingredients: 
Onion, chopped - 1/2
Tomato, chopped - 1/2
Bell Pepper, chopped - 1/2
Garlic - 2pods
Cayenne - 1/2tspn
Cajun Spice - 2 tspn
Oregano - 1/2tspn
Parsley Flakes - 1/4 tspn
Rice - 1/3 cup
Chicken Broth - 2 cups
Shrimp, peeled and deveined - 2 cups
Oil
Salt to taste

Procedure: 

1. Heat some oil in a pot and saute onions, bell peppers and garlic for 4-5mins.
2. Now add all other ingredients except for chicken broth and shrimp.
3. Saute for another 2mins and add chicken broth to it and cook it (with lid on) for 35-40mins or till rice is cooked and desired consistency is achieved, on low heat.
4. Now add some salt and shrimp and cook it for 2 mins more. South American flavors are lingering in my kitchen!

Variations: 
You can vary Jambalaya as you want. Add some chicken pieces to it, throw in some sausages and other veggies. It will still taste GREAT!


Conclusion:
I cooked it but had it the day after. The flavors had soaked in well. We relished it with Grilled Cajun Chicken....yummy!

Indian Cupcakes / Sheera / Sooji ka Halwa

We were planning to visit my husband's cousin in San Diego, CA and wanted to make something for her. I had prepared Masala Dosa Batter and chutney and was going to make the sabzi (potato curry) at her place. To make it a complete meal, I wanted to take some sweet dish and I could think of 2 types of sheera: One is Ravyacha Sheera/ Sooji ka Halwa (Sapat - that's what the konkanis call it) and second was Pithacha Sheera/Aatte ka Halwa, which my mother used to make with loads of love and ghee. I ended up making Ravyacha Sheera/Sooji Ka Halwa  as I wanted to use the banana I had and Pithacha sheera would have been an experiment ( I have never made it before but I have seen my mother make it) on her and her family which comprises of herself, her husband and a cute lil dog (Sammy).

The best part of our short visit to San Diego was the Gourmet Food Truck Festival at Del Mar. It had 30-35 gourmet food trucks - Right from Naan-Stop to 'Cupcake Wars' Winner Corner Cupcakes. There were huge lines for every food truck but we still managed to get some awesome food without a loooong wait. We had some attractive Potato Tornadoes which made people stop and ask us what exactly it was(that is what even I did). We also did some crazy photo session as if I was drowning in beer glass.

Potato Tornadoes (Cajun Style held by Ram and I am holding the Sweet Potato Style)  were the 

head-turners

HEEEEELP!!! I am drowning (read enjoying) in a glass full of beer!

Ingredients: 
Rava/Sooji/Semolina - 1 cup
Ghee/Indian Butter - 5tbspn
Milk - 1 cup
Water - 1cup
Sugar - 3/4cups
Cardamom/Elaichi, Powdered- 4 pods
Cashews, chopped - 1/3 cup
Raisins - 1 Tbspn
Ripe Banana - 1

Procedure: 

1. In a pan, roast the rava/sooji, cashews and raisins for 3-5mins on medium heat, stirring constantly. Make sure you don't over-roast it and make it brown.
2. At the same time, boil the water and milk together on med heat.
3. Now slowly pour the boiling water+milk mixture over the roasted rava stirring it simultaneously. Make sure no lumps are formed.
4. Now add the sugar, mashed ripe banana and the ghee and mix it well and shut it with the lid. Let it cook for 4-5mins on med-low heat.
5. Lastly, add the elaichi powder and mix it and serve warm or cold.

Variations: 
Remember that the Rava : (Milk+Water) proportion has to be 1:2. So you can vary it to make more water less milk or vice versa (I prefer it more milk and less water).
Also, you can roast cashews and raisins separately in butter and then add it to sheera after step # 3.

Conclusion:

It was very yummy, low in sugar (as everyone prefers less sugar now a days) and super moist Sheera. Even Sammy enjoyed a small morsel :).