arabic desserts: August 2011

Kumbakonam Kadappa ( Potatoes cooked in spicy lentil gravy)

It's time for us to Blog Hop again, this time my pair is Jayasri of Samayal Arai. If you have look at my recipe index you can notice that there is only very limited recipes in vegetarian gravy, that's because I don't cook much vegetarian gravy.
So now I'm in a mission to learn some new veg gravies, I quickly had a glance at Jayasri's gravy section. A lot got my attention but for now I made only one, it's Kumbakonam kadapa. The name sounds interesting isn'it, actually the name of recipe attracted me towards it and it's with potatoes, dhal and spices. A wholesome and rich gravy. A perfect accompaniment with chapathi's. Now I have many recipes bookmarked from Jayasri's blog, thanks to Blog Hop Wednesdays. Do check Jayasri's blog for her yummy delights.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-30 minutes
Serves 4 to 5

Ingredients:
Potatoes- 4 to 5 ( medium sized chopped )
Moong dhal- 75 g
Onion- 1 finely chopped
Garlic pods- 3 to 4 chopped
Green Chilly- 2 sliced
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice- 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - a few spring
Coriander leaves- a few stalk
Oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste

To Grind:
Grated fresh coconut-2 tbsp
Green chillies- 2
Garlic pods- 2
Roasted split gram dhal- 1/2 tbsp
Cinnamon stick- 1/2 inch
Coriander seeds- 3 tsp

Tempering:
Oil- 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds- 2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp

Method:
Grind all the ingredients to be ground. Heat the oil in a kadai or pan, add the curry leaves and garlic. When the garlic turns light brown, add the onion and saute well. Once the onion turns transparent add the chopped potatoes, turmeric powder and mix it well. Cover the pan and cook till the potatoes get cooked.
Meanwhile pressure cook the moong dhal for 3 to 4 whistles. After the potatoes get cooked, add the cooked moong dhal, ground paste and salt. Allow it to boil for about 10 minutes until the ground paste get incorporated with the gravy well. Finally add the lemon juice on top of the gravy.
Heat oil in a separate pan, add the mustard seeds when it starts spluttering, add the cumin seeds. Pour the tempering on top of the gravy. Serve the gravy with chapathi or dosa.

This post is linked with Blog Hop Wednesdays.

Also sending this to Life is Green and Flavours of South India

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EID MUBARAK !

May Allah (SWT) accept from all Muslims everywhere their Ibadah, Siyam, Qiyam, Tawbah and Dua throughout the month of Ramadhan. Eid Mubarak to all Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world.

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Daring Baker's Challenge For August 2011 : Candylicious

This month Daring Baker's Challenge was too sweet with full of candies, home made chocolate, barks, truffles....

Our lovely hosts for this month are Lisa from Parsley Sage, Desserts and Line Drives and Mandy of What The Fruit Cake. The two ladies made us to dream about chocolate all night, it was a wonderful challenge. Among the given choice, I was able to make a few and few due to lack of ingredients I skipped it. I couldn't make the Pate de fruit since I couldn't find pectin. I did made the honey comb but I couldn't publish it since I forget to picture it, which is still resting in my fridge. Yes unfortunately I couldn't taste one of the truffles or chocolates which I made, since I made them when I was fasting, I pictured it and left my home before I break the fast. It'll take an another week for me to taste those truffles.

One thing which I found very challenging was to handle the chocolate in this heat. The room temperature is 30+ degrees here and it was quite hard to set, that's the reason why I couldn't take to my mom's place when I left home, I know it's all going to be sticky, gooey and loose all it's shape after 12 hours of journey. So the rich chocolates are still safe in my refrigerator. So far you have read what I didn't make for the challenge, now let's have a look at what I made for the challenge.

Ingredients:
For Bounties:
Dessicated coconut- 100 g
Condensed milk- 100 g
Milk powder- 2 tbsp
Butter- 2 tbsp
Tempered Chocolate- about 200 g

For Peanut Butter Fudge:
Refer to the recipe here

For Truffles:
Heavy cream- 600 ml
Chocolate- 500 g
Pistachios and almonds or cocoa to coat the truffles

Method:
Tempered Chocolate:
Melt the chocolate on a glass bowl sitting on top simmering water. Chocolate is melted and heated until it reaches a temperature of 45 degree Celsius. Pour it on a smooth marbled surface and move around with a scrapper until it looks thickened and cooled. Now heat it again until it reaches a temperature of 32 degree Celsius. Now it's ready for dipping, pouring in the moulds etc.
Note:
I haven't mentioned the amount of chocolate, use it according to your recipe suggests.

For Bounties:

Mix the condensed milk, milk powder and coconut in a pan and bring it heat . Keep stirring until it looks thickened and leaves the sides of the pan. Take it off from heat, quickly beat the butter and stir well. Pour the mixture in a square tin, lined with aluminium foil. Let it cool down completely and put them in the refrigerator for overnight to set completely. Once set, cut them into squares and dip them in the tempered chocolate.
Warning!
Don't try to taste the coconut slices, you'll end finishing them on their own without leaving anything to be dipped in chocolate.

In the same way dip the peanut butter fudge also in the tempered chocolate and let them to set.

For Truffles:

I know I have used here quite lot of chocolates just to make the setting process quicker. This may not work for cold climates, but to me this is the best for hotter climates.

Heat the cream in a pan just under boiling point, take it off from heat. Quickly add the chopped chocolate and stir well until all the chocolate gets melted. Pour it in a bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, stir them with a spoon in between. Continue this process until it's thick enough to roll them into truffles. Scoop out a small amount of chocolate mixture roll it into balls and then roll them in nuts or cocoa powder.

Storage:
If your room temperature is 18-20 degrees you can store it in a air tight container. If it's more than 30+ degrees store them in the refrigerator.

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Rose Pudding (Eggless)

When you say a pudding is eggless, there are only few options like custard powder, cornflour, gelatin , agar agar and may be a few other options too. To me the last one agar agar is always the best. Agar Agar is a must in Iftar particularly for people in South India. There are some foods cools you down when you have it but they don't cool the inside of your body.

Only a few foods they cools you down when you have it as well as they cool the inside of your body. Agar Agar is one of the food which has the quality of both. Agar Agar is nothing but a gelatinious substance obtained from the cell walls of red algae. Agar Agar is also a vegetarian substitute for gelatin in pudding, jelly, ice cream etc. You can play with this agar agar and create so many different types of puddings and jelly. Just flow your creativity and create different eggless pudding using agar agar. Here goes my simple recipe using agar agar.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: approximately 20 minutes
Makes 6 Roses

Ingredients:
Agar Agar- 2 tbsp ( broken pieces or powder)
Milk- 400 ml
Condensed Milk- 2 tbsp
Rose syrup- few drops

Method:
Add the crushed pieces of agar agar to a pan and add about 150 ml of water. Heat the pan in medium to low heat and let the agar agar dissolve completely. Once the agar agar looks soft, mash with a back of a spoon to dissolve it completely. At this stage add the milk slowly and keep stirring constantly . Once you add the milk you might notice a few bits of agar agar floating on top, to dissolve this completely keep stirring until it dissolves completely and looks smooth. Finally add the condensed milk and stir well. Take it off from heat and let it cool down for a while, don't let them cool down completely , it might set. So after a few minutes taking off from heat, add the rose syrup and dissolve well. Now you can pour them in different fancy mould or just pour in 9 inch cake tin or plate and let them set. Once set, keep it refrigerated and serve it chilled.

Note:
Instead of rose syrup you can also use other flavorings like vanilla, cardamom, saffron, almond etc.

This recipe goes to Joy From Fasting To Feasting, Iftar Nights

Important Note:
I'll be on a break till the end of this week i.e I don't have my laptop. So it's not possible for me to read or publish your comments, as well as for Any One Can Cook also I'll be not able to visit your links but I'll make sure to read all your entries next week, keep linking your yummy entries.

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Any One Can Cook : Series 31

Hello Foodies,

Before going to the post my apologies for the delay in posting this week Any One Can Cook. Since I have been travelling last weekend unexpectedly I couldn't schedule my post either. Also my apologies for not visting on all the wonderful recipes linked for last week Any One Can Cook. After a quick go through of last week series, I have selected three recipes as follows
Carrot Milk Shake by Jabeen's Corner

Bread Pizza by Fusion Of Life

Masala Papad by A bit of this and a bit of that

Congratulations! to the selected recipes.

If you have any recipes easy to cook, link to the event and get the chance of winning the award and gift.

If you are a new reader to this event please check the rules here

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post. Also don't forget to give a link about the event in your post.

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

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

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Mixed Vegetable Aviyal

This post is exclusively for Blog Hop Wednesday. Blog Hop Wednesday is a brand new exciting event started by Radhika of Tickling Palettes. The concept behind this event is visting our fellow bloggers and trying out new recipes every week. Radhika has moulded this event in a special manner like forming groups, and each week we choose one of the blogger to try out new recipes. Hope you got it, if not that's ok, once you start following it, you'll surely get it. If you are a blogger just jump into the blog hopping with us and have fun.

At this point we have a bunch of wonderful bloggers and this week I have got Divya of Easy Cooking to cook from. I know you don't need any introduction for Divya's Easy Cooking. She is very popular with all her baked goodies and offcourse other recipes too. I was so excited when I got Divya's blog for this week, I went through her blog so many times and a lot of recipes caught my eyes, she is such a wonderful blogger. Finally I ended up in this aviyal from her blog. Aviyal is nothing but a mix of vegetables cooked in mild coconut based sauce, a traditional recipe from Kerala .

To be honest as a kid I used to hate this aviyal with all the vegetables in it, I used to pick only the raw mangoes and leave the rest in the plate. It's just gone the opposite now, I'm loving this aviyal a lot now. Do try this recipe, I'm sure you'll enjoy it, also don't forget to check our Blog Hop every alternative weeks.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Raw banana-1
Drumstick-1
Carrot-2 medium sized
Potato- 1 medium sized
Raw mango-1 small sized
Green Chilly-2
Curry leaves- 6 to 7 leaves
Coconut oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt as required

To Grind:
Coconut- 3 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Method:
Wash and slice all the vegetables lenghtways. For raw banana, carrot, potato and drumstick peel them before slicing it. Heat oil in a kadai or pan. Add all the washed and chopped vegetables , except raw mango. Stir well to coat in oil. Cover the pan and let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Meanwhile grind together coconut, turmeric and cumin seeds into coarse paste. Add the ground mixture along with green chillies, raw mango and salt to the vegetable mixture. Add enough water to cover the vegetables. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the vegetables are soft enough. Finally heat oil in a separate kadai, add the curry leaves, stir for 1 minute. Pour the hot oil on top of the cooked aviyal.
This Aviyal goes well with plain rice with a combination of Spicy fish gravy and poppadums.

Note:
Instead of coconut oil you can also use sunflower oil or any other oil of your choice, but coconut oil gives a special touch to this aviyal.

This recipe is linked with Blog Hop Wednesdays.

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Any One Can Cook: Series30

Hello Foodies,

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend, welcome back to another successful series of Any One Can Cook. I sincerely thank everyone who link your wonderful recipes and made the event a successful one. Here are the three selected recipes from last week series.
Fruit and Cream by Simple, Sweet N Savoury

Spiceless Poha by Sabdha's Kitchen

Berry Crumbles by Shirley's Luxury Haven

Congratulations! to the selected recipes.

If you have any recipes easy to cook, link to the event and get the chance of winning the award and gift.

If you are a new reader to this event please check the rules here

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post. Also don't forget to give a link about the event in your post.

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

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

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Karee Vadai (Meat and Lentil Fritter) My Guest Post on Cooking Varieties

This recipe is my guest post on Cooking Varieties. Actually I was supposed to do this long back ago with any recipe using Winter Squash, since it was really just the time we moved to India, I couldn't make it. Ms.Wan was really kind and patience with me, I really appreciate that.
Finally when I was ready to do the post, it was just a couple of days before Ramadhan, so I decided to make some Iftar related recipes, so this kari vadai (meat and lentil fritters). Thank you Ms.Wan for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Kari Vadai is nothing but fritters made with fritters and lentils. I have used here Chana dhal which is nothing but yellow split pea. You can find this in any Indian grocery stores. This is something which we have for our Iftar with Kanji (Soup). This vadai can be prepared with uncooked meat also, but I cooked the meat and then used for fritters, since it reduces the cooking time for vadai, aslo you don't have to worry whether the inside is cooked or not and your oil doesn't get spoiled with all the meat fat. Hope you all enjoy this recipe

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Make 15 to 20 vadai's

Ingredients:
Chana dhal (Yellow Split Pea) - 150 g
Boneless lamb- 150 g
Onion- 1 small sized finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
Chilli powder- 1 tsp
Garam masala- 1 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp finely chopped
Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp
Salt as required
Oil for frying

Method:
Soak the chana dhal in water for 2 hours. Finely chop the lamb pieces and marinate with turmeric, lemon juice, salt and 1/2 tsp of garam masala. Add oil in a pan, add the meat pieces and cook until the meat is completed cooked. Now grind the chana dhal by adding very little water into a thick coarse paste. Once the dhal looks coarsely ground, add the meat and grind it again. Meat should also look like coarse pieces in the dhal. Now add the spices, salt, onion, chopped coriander leaves and ginger garlic paste. Mix it well. Heat oil in a pan to shallow fry, once the oil is hot enough to fry, make patties out of the mixture and drop it in hot oil, keep the flame in medium and cook it on both sides until it looks golden brown in colour. Serve the hot vadai's with green chutney.

Note:
To check the oil is hot enough, drop a small amount of mixture in the oil, if it comes bubbling up immediately then the oil is ready to fry.
Also if your mixture doen't hold well and it's too crumbly, add some gramflour or all purpose flour to hold the mixture.

Sending this to Joy From Fasting to Feasting, Iftar Nights, Serve it Only Fried, CC-Appetizers

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Rose Apple Muffin - Sweet Punch for August 2011

Hello Foodies,

Okey I'm already a bit late for Sweet Punch this month, so I tried to post it today as early as possible. This month our Sweet Punch team has chosen Strawberry Banana Muffin from Joy of Baking. Yes it's Strawberry Banana Muffin, after looking out for strawberries a month, I gave up and thought will use cherries.
Finally I found that cherries season also finished. I couldn't think of anything and decided to seek help with Sweet Punch. Divya suggested me to use apple or mango, so finally it's Apple and Banana Muffin. About these apple petals (hope it looks so ;-) ) on top, couple of days back, I remember one of our fellow bloggers made these with a different muffin recipe. Aw! I have such a poor memory that I couldn't remember the person, sorry dear...

Those elegant shape immediately caught my attention, so I made those apple petals with these muffin. Coming to the texture of the muffin, this is so great, I loved it. Do try it at home and enjoy with a cup of tea or even as dessert with some custard.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Makes 6 Muffins

Ingredients:
All purpose flour- 150 g
Sugar- 50 g
Egg- 1
Banana- 1(mashed)
Apple- 1 1/2
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Butter- 50 g (melted)
Baking Powder- 1 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice- a squeeze

Method:
Take half of the apple, peel and chop it. Add a knob of butter in a pan, add the chop apples and cook it until softened. Let it cool down for a while. Take the whole apple and slice it finely with skin. Add a knob of butter to the pan, add the sliced apples and cook until it looks soft, add a squeeze of lemon juice and take it off from heat.
Sift the flour, baking powder and soda in a large bowl, add the sugar to this mixture and mix well. Add the chopped and cooked apples to the flour mixture and mix it well to coat the apples with flour mixture. Beat the eggs, vanilla essence and banana. Add the melted butter to it and mix it again. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just to combine, do not overmix it, you might result in hard texture muffin.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease the muffin tray with butter. Spoon the mixture into the tray. Now comes the fun part, start making the floral shapes on top. You can either make the floralshapes separately in a plate and then keep it on top of the muffin mixture or start arranging them in the mixture itself. If you arrange them in the mixture itself, it bind well with the texture , but your hands get messy and bit tough. When you arrange it on the plate and then if you fix it, it's quite easy job, but it stands out separately.
Right to make it, just take the sliced and cooked apples and start forming it like rose petals by gently folding them. Place it on top of the mixture. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20- 25 minutes. Carefully insert a skewer on the side to check if it's cooked. Remove it from the oven, let it cool down for 5 minutes in the cooling rack. Serve it while they are still warm.

Note:
If you find the floral shapes on top are bit tough, you can skip that process and make just the muffin, which is delicious on it's own.

Sending this to Joy from Fasting to Feasting and Iftar Nights

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Any One Can Cook : Series 29

Hello Foodies,

Hope everyone had a nice weekend, I sincerely thank everyone who support this event by linking their recipe, thank you so much. The three selected recipes from last week series.
Mixed Nut Burfi from Tamalapaku

Cheese Flowers by Ramya's Recipe

Peanut Chutney Powder by UK Rasoi

If you have any recipes easy to cook, link to the event and get the chance of winning the award and gift.

If you are a new reader to this event please check the rules here

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post. Also don't forget to give a link about the event in your post.

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

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

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Neythili Meen Aviyal (Anchovies in Coconut based Gravy)

Neythili or Anchovies are one of the food which I enjoyed the most in my childhood. Whenever I visit my grandma's place or aunt's place, these anchovies are must in their regular diet. Even though when I was not a big fan of fish in my childhood, I used to love these gravies even still now.
After a very long time, I had these anchovies, that too prepared by me. Last week when I got these, the immediate thing which I done was called my mom and asked for the recipe. Except the cleaning part of the fish, the recipe by itself is quite easy. If you can get cleaned fish directly, then that makes your life much more easier . I have used raw mango for this recipe, if you couldn't find raw mango, you can also replace it with tomatoes. Try this recipe, I'm sure you'll love it.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes (excluding cleaning the fish)
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Neythili or Anchovies- 500 g
Shallots- 6 finely chopped
Raw mango- 2 small sized (sliced)
Garlic- 4 pods
Grated coconut- 5 tbsp
Green chilly- 2
Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
Chilly powder- 1 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 10 leaves
Oil- 1 tbsp
Salt as required

Method:
Remove the head and tail part of the anchovies and clean it well in water. Grind together coconut, turmeric and chilly powder by adding little water. Heat oil in a pan or kadai, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, garlic pods and green chillies. Then add the chopped shallots and saute it for 2 to 3 minutes until it looks translucent. Now add the ground coconut mixture, sliced raw mango and the fish. Add very little water to this and salt as per taste. Give it a gentle stir, without breaking the fish. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes. Then open the lid and cook for further few minutes, until the water gets dried out completely. In the middle of cooking give it a gentle stir. Once the water gets dried out completely, take it off from heat and serve it with plain rice.

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen Event

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Ramadhan Mubarak

Ramadhan Mubarak to muslims all over the world.

"Ramadhan is the (month) in which the Quran was sent down , as a guide to the mankind and a clear guidance and judgement( so that mankind will distinguish from the right and wrong)."TMQ( 2:185)

Allah' s Messenger ( peace be upon him) said: Whenever you sight the new moon( of the month of Ramadhan) observe fast, and when you sight it( the new moon of Shawwal) break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then observe fast for thirty days.( muslim)

Allah's Apostle said, " When the month of Ramadhan starts, the gates of heaven are opened and gates of hell are close and the devils are chained."( Bukhari)

Narrated by Abu Huraira(r.a): The Prophet said:" ..... whoever fasts during the month of Ramadhan out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven."( Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah ( peace be upon him) addressed his companions on the last day of Shaban, saying," Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which a night better than thousand months; month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer( to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in this month shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time, and whoever discharges an obligatory deed in this month shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience and the reward of patience is heaven. It is the month of charity , and a month in which a believer's sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without believer's reward being diminished at all." ( Narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah).

Ramadhan is the month in which Allah(swt) covers you with his blessings, sends down Mercy, decreases sins and answers prayers. So show Allah( swt) the goodness from yourselves, for the unfortunate one is he who is deprived in (this month) of the mercy of Allah.

"Fasting is the shield with which a servant protects himself from the Fire" ( Ahmad)

On the Day Of Judgement, " Fasting will say: O My Lord I prevented him from food and desires so accept my intercession for him." ( Ahmad, al- Haakim, Hasan).

In this holy month of Ramadhan let's get closer to Allah(swt) by doing good deeds and praising Allah the Almighty. One more thing when it comes to Ramadhan, most of the women spend a lot of time in kitchen like planning for get together, inviting guests and making special things for Iftar. Although we get lots of reward in cooking for our friends and family, we should not forget to spend our time for Allah (swt). The time between Asr and Magrib is the best time to be in Dhikr and seek more, also that's the peak time for us to cook for Iftar. So sisters plan your Iftar earlier with some simple menu or something which you can make it ahead and warm it later. I have given a sample menu for 7 days, along with that links from last year Iftar Moments with 30 day menu plan . This is just a sample menu, along with this include plenty of fruits and salads in your diet.

Here goes the menu

Day 1