arabic desserts: February 2011

Any One Can Cook Series 18

Hi Foodies,
Thank you everyone for your participation with Any One can Cook. This is our successful 18th series. Just to inform since we are moving out of Germany in 4 weeks time, it's just busy going for me with all packing and etc. I will not be able to come and check regularly all the blogs. Also once we moved to India I'll take a break from blogging for about 2 months, Any One Can Cook will still be on, I'll draft and schedule the posts. But when ever possible I'll check all your blog posts .
For now we'll continue with Any One Can Cook Series 18, new readers check the event rules here.

Just remember a few rules before linking your recipe, your recipe should fall under any one of the following categories. When you are linking your recipe here, please give the short form as I have mentioned to make it easy for the readers. If your recipe falls under any of the two categories or all the three categories also you can mention it. When you are linking if you forget to give the short form don't worry, no problem about that.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post.

If you find any trouble in linking your recipe please mail me your recipe link ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.

So let's coming cooking easy.....

The linky will be opened from Monday- Friday( till midnight 12) according to Europe- Greenwich Mean Time

reade more...

Panacotta in Eggshell- Daring Baker's Challenge for February 2011

Our challenge for February 2011 is to make Panacotta with florentines. This challenge was given to us by Mallory. Panocotta is a creamy and wobbly dessert, almost everyone will love this dessert. Along with this we have to bake a crispy florentine cookies.

When I was a kid , puddings using agar agar is something very common in my place. Although it din't have such a smooth texture as panacotta, still agar agar puddings are my favourite. Particularly when my mom makes it in egg shell, I just loved it. Yes, you heard it right, it's egg shell. Don't worry it's not going to poison you. We always name it as sweet egg and have fun with it. So when I saw the challenge for this month, I decided to make it in egg shell, to bring back all my childhood memories and I did some in regular glasses too.

Coming to the cookies, the recipe which Mallory gave us was a crispy and lovely cookie. I spoiled it and made it as a bar. I really didn't intend to do that. I had a very long hectic day with my little ones and after that when I was making these cookies, I poured the batter in a pan instead of making like cookies. By the time I realized that it's not going to be like cookies, I was too tired to change it from the pan again. My apologies to Mallory. The good thing was the bars tasted good just like flapjack. So there you go my panacotta in egg shell with chewy oats bar. Thank you Mallory for this wonderful challenge. To join Daring Baker's click here

Ingredients:
For panacotta:
Whole milk- 200 ml
Single cream- 200 ml
Honey- 2 tbsp
Sugar- 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Agar agar- 2 tbsp
Mango puree- 150 g
Egg shell- 4( if you are using)

For oats bars:
Porridge oats- 120 g
Plain flour-60 g
Brown Sugar- 150 g
Butter- 100 g
Golden syrup- 40 ml
Whole milk- 40 ml
Dark chocolate- 50 g

Method:
Panacotta

If you are using the egg shell like me, first prepare the egg shell. Crack your egg into half, take the inside out. Wash the shells thoroughly ( don't use any soap). Boil the water in a pan, when the water starts boiling, immerse the egg shells for 3 to 4 minutes. Then take it out and allow it to dry completely.
Now prepare the pannacotta. First prepare the white layer. Soak 1 tbsp of agar agar in cold milk for 1 hour. Add the soaked agar agar, 100 ml of milk, 100 ml of cream, 1 tbsp of honey and sugar. Heat it in medium to low heat. Keep stirring continuously without burning at the bottom. Once the agar agar looks completely dissolved, add 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder, take it off from heat. Carefully pour the mixture into the egg shells and the remaining into small glasses or which ever dish you decide to serve. Allow it to to set for 3 hours.
Next prepare the mango layer. With the remaining ingredients , prepare the panacotta in the same method as above, at the end add the mango puree and mix it well until it looks smooth. Pour the mixture on top of the white layer in the egg shell and glasses. Allow it to set for 3 to 4 hours.

Oats Bars:
Melt the butter in the pan. Once the butter has melted completely add the oats, flour, sugar, syrup and milk. Mix it to smooth. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. If you want to make it like bars like me, pour the mixture in a 20 cm cake tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the sides looks brown in colour.
To make like cookies, grease and line a baking tray, pour a teaspoon full of mixture in the baking paper. Bake it in the preheated oven for 5 to 7 minutes until it spreads and browns on the side.
Melt the chocolate and dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate and let it set until the chocolate dries out. Store the cookies in an air tight container.
Enjoy these aromatic and creamy panacotta with oats bars.

Sending this to Western Dessert Recipes and Cooking With Fruits

reade more...

Baklava- Layered Sweet Pastry

Baklava is a rich sweet pastry, made with layers of thin sheets of pastry, filled with nuts and soaked in syrup. It has been claimed by ethnic regions , some say it as Greek and some as Turkish....

Wherever this sweet originated, this is just one amazing sweet. Everytime when we buy a big box of baklavas, it disappears within a day. Few times I failed in trying this baklava, however it's not a complete failure, I have to say a bit dry. Still you can claim that as a type of baklava. To me this one was perfect, completely soaked, perfectly cooked layers and the right amount of nuts. If you are planning to make this sweet for your friends and family or any occasion , just make it a day ahead which will give enough time to soak in the syrup. I made this last week , nothing has left now, still I'm dreaming about this delicious pastry.
So let's go to the recipe for my sweet little sweet.
Here is the link from which I followed the recipe with few variations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mICkUdelQ

Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 minutes
Makes 15 squares

Ingredients:
Phyllo pastry- 500 g( 20 sheets)
Walnuts- 100 g
Almonds- 100 g
Pista- 100 g
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Brown sugar- 1 tbsp
Butter- 250 g
For the syrup:
Honey- 100 g
Brown sugar- 200 g
Lemon juice- 2 tsp
Cinnamon stick- 1/2 inch stick
Orange blossom water or rose water- 1 tsp

Method:
In a food processor , pulse the nuts along with cinnamon and sugar until looks coarse.
Next prepare the layers of pastry. Open the pastry cover , place all the pastries in a wide flat surface, cover it with a damp cloth to avoid drying.
Take a 20 cm square tin. Grease with butter and line with baking parchment paper. Melt the butter completely until looks runny.
Take a sheet of pastry and lay it in the tin, brush with butter all over the pastry. If the pastry sheet is hanging out of the tin, fold it over in the tin and brush with butter. Repeat the same process until you get 8 layers of pastry. Now spread the nut mixture on top of the pastry and press it with a back of the spoon.
Now again start layering the pastry in the same method as mentioned and finish with 4 layers of pastry. Now again spread it with nuts and press with the back of the spoon. Now again start layering the pastry and finish with the remaining 8 layers of pastry.
Note:
Remember that when you are using a 20 cm square tin, you'll be able to fold each pastry into two layers and for each and every layer you have to brush the pastry sheet with butter.

Continuing...
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Make square shapes in the pastry using a sharp knife. Make just insertions do not cut it out completely. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can see that the pastry will be light brown in colour, at this stage cover the tin tightly with aluminium foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degree Celsius and bake it for further 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes remove the foil, increase the temperature to 180 again and bake it for further 20 minutes until the top layer of pastry looks brown in colour. At this stage take it out, pour the syrup all over the pastry little by little. If the syrup looks floating on top, allow it absorb for few minutes and then pour the syrup again. Now cut the squares and completely and let them sit in the tin and soak in syrup for minimum 5 to 6 hours. You can leave it in the tin until it gets finished or place them in a separate serving plate.

To make the syrup:
Add the honey, sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon juice along with 150 ml of water. Bring it boil in medium heat. Stir continually until the sugar gets completely dissolved. Boil for 5 minutes until it looks syrupy. Finally add the rose water to the syrup and take it off from heat.
You can prepare the syrup when the baklavas are baking in the oven.

This recipe goes to 17th Mediterranean Cooking event by Tobias Cooks, also sending this to best recipe of the month by Nancy.

reade more...

Strawberry Pizza

Well this is not a brand new idea of using fruits in pizza or making a sweet version of pizza. You might have come across so many sweet pizzas in online or television , may be cook books. There are so many sweet version of pizzas like using chocolate, fruits and cheese, coconut, dry fruits etc.....

The recipe which I have given here is just my own version. My sweet version of pizza doesn't contain any cheese, rather I used homemade strawberry syrup and custard. You can enjoy these as a naughty breakfast or as a snack. Without any doubt my kids loved it, since they had everything which they needed i.e. jam, custard and strawberries...

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes+ rising time
Makes 8 wedges

Ingredients:
For the dough:
Unbleached bread flour or wholemeal flour- 300 g
Dried yeast- 1 1/2 tsp
Honey- 1 tbsp
Olive oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Warm water- 120 ml

For the sauce:
Strawberries- 200 g
Maple syrup - 3 tbsp

For the custard:
Custard powder- 1 tbsp
Milk- 150 ml
Honey-1 tbsp or Sugar according to your taste

For the topping:
Strawberries- 10

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the salt and yeast mix it well. Make a well in the center add the oil, honey and warm water little by little to make a smooth elastic dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled in size.
Prepare the sauce :
Place the strawberries and syrup in a sauce pan, heat it in medium to low heat. After few minutes the strawberries get mashed and looks like a liquid. At this stage remove it from heat and let it cool down completely. When it's completely cooled it looks like a jam and easy to spread. You can even prepare the sauce a day before and put it in the refrigerator.
Prepare the custard:
Mix the custard powder, milk and honey without any lumps. Heat it in medium to low heat, keep stirring continuously until it looks like a thick custard consistency. Take it off from heat and let it cool down completely.
Prepare the pizza:
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. Take the dough punch the air back. Take a 10 cm round pizza tray or any baking tray. Grease and dust it with flour. Spread the dough in the shape of the baking tray. Spread the sauce on top of the pizza. Then spread the custard gently on top of the sauce without any mess. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Take the pizza out and spread the freshly cut strawberries on top it. You can serve this warm or cold. If you are planning to serve cold, arrange the fruits once the pizza gets cold.

This recipe goes to Yeastspotting, Only Cooking With Bread, Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Strawberries hosted by Foodelicious started by Priya Mitharwal, also linking this with Home Maker Monday , Made by you Monday, it also goes to the event Cooking With Fruits by Tastebuds

reade more...

Any One Can Cook : Series 17

I can't believe it's already 17 weeks after starting this event, time just flies so quickly. The success of this event was just because of all our dear fellow food bloggers, who continuously supported this event by linking their recipes. Last two weeks we had some confusion with the linky tools and the roundup was posted manually. This week everything have settled, we are back to linky tools again, we got all our last information also. So from this week onwards we'll start having the fun again with linky.
If you are new reader to this blog, view the event rules here.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post.

If you find any trouble in linking your recipe please mail me your recipe link ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.

So let's coming cooking easy.....

reade more...

Any One Can Cook : Series 16 ( Roundup)

Hi Dear Bloggers,
Thank you everyone for sending your delicious treats to Any One Can Cook. I have a good news for you, our linky tool is working now and we got all the lost series. So from next week we'll continue the fun with linky tools. As always the linky tool will be available from Monday- Friday.
So now we'll go the roundup of this week series in the order in which we received it
First we have Nashira of Plateful who started the event with her lovely Chocolate dipped strawberries.

Next we have Sudeshna of Cook Like a Bong , who made a warm comfort dessert Apple Crumble as a Valentine special, FB and WLI

Next Ambreen of Simple Sweet N Savory has send a scrumptious Chocolate Mug Cake which she made in just 5 minutes, that's fantastic isn't?, WMT

Next we have Ayantika of Eat, Drink N Rock, she has send us a rich and creamy Honey Yogurt Pannacotta made with all healthy ingredients, FB, WLI

Next we have a Delicious Spicy Coconut Poori's by My Diary of Good Food

Priya of Now Serving has send us a very tempting Aloo tikkis stuffed with low fat cream cheese.

Neeraja has send very delicious looking Bachelor's Chicken Curry.

Cook from Doha has send us Sweet Idli's, kids will love this and grownups too.

Saju's Kitchen has send us Sunnundalu, a delicious sweet made with Urad dhal, FB, WLI, WMT

Zareena of My Experiments With Food has send us Fish Cutlets, a real comfort food.

So that's it for this week, hope you all enjoyed the roundup and ready to try the recipes. If I have missed any of your recipes it's only by mistake, so please let me know so that I can update it immediately. Next week we'll continue with Mr. Linky until then have a nice weekend.

reade more...

Cottage Loaf

Nearly a year ago I planned to make this loaf and I made it at last  two days back. I'm happy that atleast I made it after a year later. Cottage loaf is a traditional English style, I don't know why this name as Cottage loaf, but I like this name a lot. I always adore the old classical cottage style houses. In India you can hardly see these cottage style houses even in rural area but in most of the western countries, atleast in UK you can see this heritage is maintained. The uniform style of Victorian houses in the street, is really lovely. Actually there is a lot to talk about these Victorian and Cottage houses, but at the moment I feel very sleepy, so I better go to the recipe now.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes+ rising time
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients:
Bread flour- 450 g
Dried yeast- 2 tsp
Warm water- 300 ml
Honey- 2 tsp
Mixed dried herbs- 2 tsp( optional)
Olive oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt- 1 tsp

Method:
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the salt , dried herbs and yeast mix it well. Make a well in the center add the oil, honey and water little by little to make it into a smooth dough. Knead the dough for 5 minutes to make it smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl, cover with a cling film. Leave it in a warm place and allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours until doubled in size.
  Take the dough, punch the air back, divide the dough in two, one larger than the other. Take a baking sheet, dust it with flour, place the larger dough at the bottom and the smaller one on the top. Cover loosely and leave it in a warm place for 30 minutes.
   Meanwhile preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius. Take the dough, with a sharp knife make 8 slashes on the top dough and 12 slashes on the bottom dough.
   Oil a back of the wooden spatula and insert it right into the middle of loaf and take it out to create a whole in the middle. Mix 2 tsp of salt in 4 tbsp of water and brush it on top of the loaf. This will give you a nice crusty loaf.
   Bake the loaf in a preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until it looks crusty brown colour on outside.
  You can serve this bread sliced with cheese, cold meat and salad or with a warm bowl of soup.

This recipe goes to Yeastspotting, AWED- British hosted by Reva originally started by DK of Chef in You.

reade more...

Vegetable Cutlet / Patties

When I was a kid , I was very fuzzy with food. I have to say my kids are better than me. I hardly eat vegetables, fruits or even meat, you might be wondering what did I eat ? Yes, that's a different story. As a fuzzy eating kid still I loved cutlets a lot, whether it's a veg or non veg. Do you know why I liked this a lot, since whenever I get cutlets, I also get ketchup as a dip. There are times I used to think, without ketchup cutlets are tasteless, silly isn't. Anyway not any more I think the same way and I'm not still that little fuzzy kid.

This good old cutlet recipe is not too technical to make and it also includes very simple ingredients which will be available in almost any Indian kitchen. These cutlets taste delicious just on it's own, or served with ketchup. You can enjoy these cutlets also as a burger with cheese melted on top.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Potatoes- 300 g( boiled and mashed)
Carrot- 1 medium sized finely chopped
Beans- 50 g finely chopped
Onion- 1 medium sized finely
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp
Curry powder- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil- 1 tbsp

For coating:
Egg- 1
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Bread crumbs- 200 g
Plain flour- 100 g
Oil for frying

Ingredients:
Boil and mash about 5 medium sized potatoes. Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds, then add ginger garlic paste and onion. Fry it in medium heat until the onion looks transparent, do not let them burn. Quickly add the carrot and beans mix it well. Cover the pan and cook until the vegetables are soft, this might take about 3 minutes.
  Add the spice powder and salt, mix it well. Finally add the mashed potatoes and mix it well until the masala gets evenly coated. Take it off from heat and let it cool down for 10 minutes.
  Meanwhile for coating beat the egg, turmeric and salt in a bowl. Spread the flour and breadcrumbs in separate plates. Take the vegetable mixture and form it into patties shape. To get a perfect round shape, use a round cutter or a cup. Form the patties and keep it in a separate plate. Dip the patties one by one in the flour and dust the excess flour. Then dip them one by one in egg and keep it in a plate. Finally roll them in the breadcrumbs and keep it separately. Spread them in a plate such that they don't touch other, cover with a cling film and put it in a refrigerator for minimum 2 hours. This will help the patties firm a little and the shape will not be deformed when frying.
   Heat oil in a pan, take the patties out from the refrigerator and fry them two to three at a time in medium heat. Fry them on both sides until they look golden in colour. The oil level in the pan should be such that, the patties get half immersed in the oil, so that they get evenly fried.
Serve hot with ketchup and salad.

Tips:
If you are a vegetarian you can also use gram flour mixed with water like a thick paste for coating instead of eggs.

This recipe goes to Kid's Delight- Street food by Srivalli and Appetizer Recipes by Charitha, also linking this to Let's Do Brunch.

reade more...

Peas and Mint Soup

The climate is getting a bit better here, sunny but still slightly cold. I'm sure that everyone would love to have a warm bowl of soup on a cold evening. Well actually this one we had for our lunch. Very rarely we take soup and bread for lunch in home, being born and brought up in South India, I always love to have rice and spicy curry for lunch. Yes atleast one meal of my day has to be rice, otherwise my engine doesn't run.
This is a type of soup which I like to have any time of the day, even for breakfast. The method of preparation for this soup is general English style soup but quite thinner than the normal English style soup. According to my understanding English style of soup are made with vegetables, potato, stock and cream, which is then pureed in a blender. The body of the soup is generally a thick consistency, which is perfect with a crusty bread rolls.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Green peas ( frozen thawed)- 450 g
Potato- 2 medium sized finely chopped
Onion- 1 medium sized finely chopped
Garlic- 3 pods finely chopped
Vegetable stock- 500 ml
Fresh mint leaves- 2 stalk finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper- 1 tsp
Milk- 3 tbsp
Olive oil- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan, add chopped garlic, onion and potato sauté for 2 minutes . Then add the chopped mint and saute for 1 minute. Add the peas and stock. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Add milk, salt and pepper. Take it off from heat. Let it cool down for 5 to 10 minutes, then puree it in a liquidizer.
Return the mixture to the pan again and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Take it off from heat, serve warm with crusty bread rolls.

This recipe goes to Souper Sundays and AWED-British hosted by Kaarasaram which was originally started by DK of Chef in You.

reade more...

Any One Can Cook Rules Changed

Hi Everyone,
Any One Can Cook rules changes from this week onwards. In future there will not be any linky tool available in Taste Of Pearl City. I have lost all the previous serious, I'm still trying to recover that. So from this week onwards the only rule change is no linky tool, the remaining rules are just the same.
If you are a new reader to this blog, check the event rules here.
Without any linky tools we'll miss a small part of fun in this event, but still I hope the main aim of the event will be achieved i.e. to make cooking easier.

So let's see how the event is going to work without linky,
1. Prepare any recipe which suits the event
2. Mail me your recipe url to ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com
3. You can mail your recipes from Monday- Thursday, if you send me your recipe after Thursday I'll include your recipe to the next week roundup.
4. Everyweek the roundup will be on Friday.
5. View the event rules here.
I hope I'll get the same support from all our fellow bloggers as always and my apologies for loosing all the previous series. I'm still trying to recover that. So what's next - make cooking easier and mail me your recipe url, which is going to help budding cooks to busy cooks.

reade more...

Mani Kozhukattai With Polenta

Kozhukattai is a steamed cakes made with rice flour generally. Mani kozhukattai are made in tiny pearl shapes, and in Tamil( South Indian Language) pearls are referred as Mani - hence the name Mani Kozhukattai. The recipe which I have given here isn't made with rice flour. I used polenta to make these kozhukattai, the recipe by itself is very simple to make except the time to make these tiny pearls. We enjoyed these little spicy pearls as breakfast, you can also have this as a snack.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Polenta- 1 cup
Salt- 1/2 tsp

For Spice Mix:
Urad dhal- 2 tbsp
Dried red chillies- 2
Chana dhal- 1/2 tbsp
Curry leaves- 5 leaves

For Seasoning:
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Urad dhal- 1 tsp
Dried red chilly- 2
Green chilly- 1 ( optional)
Curry leaves- 6 leaves or 1 stalk
Fresh grated coconut- 1/2 tbsp
Oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Boil 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan along with salt. When the water comes to boil, reduce the heat to medium, slowly add the polenta stirring continuously without any lumps. Stir until it forms like lump. Take it off from heat, let it cool down for 2 to 3 minutes.
Grease your palms with ghee or oil. Make tiny pearl shape balls using the polenta mixture. Place the tiny pearlshape balls in a steamer or idli plates and steam for 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile make the spice mixture, start roasting the urad dhal, dried red chilly, chana dhal and curry leaves in a dry pan. Once the urad dhal colour changes to light brown in colour, take it off from heat and powder it in a blender without adding any water.
Next season the kozhukattai's:
Heat the oil in a kadai or pan, add the mustard seeds, when it starts spluttering add the urad dhal, curry leaves, dried chilly , coconut and green chilly. When the coconut and urad dhal colour changes, add the spice powder and mix well. Keep the heat in low add the kozhukattai's and gently stir to coat with all the spices. Add salt to taste. Serve warm as a breakfast or snack.

Tips:
If you think making the tiny pearl shapes take too much time you can spread the polenta mixture in a square pan, cut them into tiny cubes. Then steam the cubes and follow the same procedure as above.

reade more...

Any One Can Cook : Series 15 ( Roundup)

My sincere thanks to everyone who participated in Any One Can Cook. Due to few problems with linky tools, this week we had a different style of series. So here I'm to post the roundup for Any One Can Cook Series 15, we had a lot of varieties from all our lovely bloggers, take your time to check out each and every recipe individually. The roundup is in the order in which I received.

Zareena of My Experiments With Food has sent Khaddu Ki Kheer, this is a very quick and easy dessert which can be made in minutes.

Santhosh Bangar has send her delicious and easy to make chutney and sambar which goes very well with dosas.

Shanavi of Kitchen Secrets has send her mouthwatering Asoka Halwa.

Harini- Jaya of Tamalapaku is our regular contributor for Any One Can Cook, Thank you Harini-Jaya for sending all your quick, healthy and delicious treats.
Beetroot Curry- FB, WLI