About a month back, a dear reader Sudha asked me for a Potato recipe which is my all time fav. She said she loved roast potatoes and that which makes it often. She asked me if I had a twist to regular roast potatoes. This recipe “Patates sto Fourno” is a Greek recipe for Garlic and Lemon Potatoes. It is a staple in taverna menus and I read that it is usually served with roasted chicken/grilled fish dishes. The potatoes are mostly cubed and browned. Once its done, lemon juice and garlic is added towards the end. For me personally, cubing always for some reason more often ends up as soggy dish. That’s bad news! So I usually cut them into wedges (tip suggested by a friend who gave me this recipe)

It is also usually Oven Roasted and I have done that too when I have the time but most of the times I just want to do it fast.(...)
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Post tags: garlic, lemon, oregano, potatoes

Its been a long while since I made a jam last! We have started enjoying other breakfast items which don’t call for jam a lot hence I was not in a dire need to make some at home. For the rare occasion we needed Jam, a small store bought Jam seemed a better idea! But during one of my trips to Grocery stores, I came across some yummy looking fresh apricots. I had quite a lot of fruits stocked at home and knew that it will only spoil if I buy more. If you had already read through the rant about fruits and me, you will realize my hesitation. But those cute apricots won me over and I got few home. But once home, my sense came back and after eating 1-2, I was in a fix! So I did the next best thing to eating them fresh – Made them into a jam, of course!

Using up the jam sounded easier to me than eating them just as they are! Oh well, that’s me! I remembered that I had this one vanilla bean that I was storing for that “one special recipe” (...)
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Post tags: apricots, lemon, orange, vanilla bean

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Having heard so much about Tiramisu, you would think I would have had it like ages ago wouldn’t you? Thought wrong! The very first time I had it was exactly 3 months ago! While I was amazed at the mind blowing texture and creaminess of the dessert (for not being a dessert lover, I liked it a lot!) but one thing that put me off completely was the liquor! Too much alcohol that my husband made fun of me when at the end of it, it seemed I looked a little drunk! The kidder in the house – everyone! I decided then and there that I would try to recreate this famous Italian dessert at home but without alcohol.

The beginning of the month saw me finalize on a recipe (which looked close enough to the taste I enjoyed) and the next day I bought home some Mascarpone cheese. I needed to go to a different store to get me ladyfingers when just minutes before leaving, I remembered that I did not check this months Daring Baker’s challenge. I was sure I would need to buy something from the store for the challenge and Whoa!! What was the title I see? Tiramisu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like shocked for few seconds!  With goosepimples, I informed Aparna and Deeps what a coincidence it was! And what more – we had to make everything from scratch!!

The best part I liked about making it all on our own was the Mascarpone cheese! I was like – what? Really? Me? I never knew getting pasteurized anything would be so hard to get! All I found was Ultra pasteurized stuff but whole foods saved me! At the end of making the cheese, the most amazing thing was the taste test which I put my better half through. I first gave him a small spoonful of the store bought Mascarpone cheese (remember the one I bought before I knew about the challenge?). Then I went and fed him another spoon of the home made Mascarpone Cheese. His quip, “Hey! What’s the idea of feeding me the same thing again and again? I thought you wanted me to do some taste test? What is the other thing?” – was the best thing I ever heard!!!!! Home made cheese which tastes like the shop bought ones – I mean what could be better than this?:)

As for the Tiramisu – we loved it! Me, especially since this did not have the overpowering (...)
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Post tags: cake flour, cocoa powder, eggs, espresso, heavy cream, lemon, milk, vanilla extract

However hard I try, its sometimes inevitable that I am faced with leftovers – esp. rice. But the number of options for using up rice is myriad to say the least. Indian cuisine especially is very good in this regard owing to the fact that rice is a staple. It most often happens that I end up eating the leftovers and recently when this happened – I thought of making the traditional South Indian rice – Lemon Rice.

It is a classic, made not only during  festive occasions like Pongal but on a day to day basis. I am sure there are many who would remember being packed this for lunch box along with spicy roasted potatoes. Its as elegant as you want it to be and kept as simple as the need arises.  I love recipes which can be dressed up on short notice but otherwise need only minutes to put together. This recipe needless to say is one which I grew up with.

Other simple rice recipes you might like: Green Peas Pulao with Paneer, Yellow Rice, Cilantro Lime Rice, African Jollof Rice, Srilankan Kiribath(...)
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Post tags: curry leaves, lemon, mustard, peanuts, sesame oil, turmeric

I thought I made lots of pumpkin puree and was wondering how I was going to finish all of it! I need not have worried. With the last of my puree, I made these utterly delicious spiced Pumpkin cupcakes. These cupcakes have gone places – from David Leite to Smitten kitchen to Honey and Jam. With such a fan following, I knew I had to make it.

(...)
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Post tags: baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, buttermilk, cake flour, cinnamon, cloves, cream cheese, eggs, ginger, ginger powder, lemon, nutmeg, pepper, peppercorns, powdered, powdered sugar, pumpkin, squash, sugar

This recipe is in my drafts for like ages. To be precise 8 months!. But after getting repeated recipe requests for Baklava, I had to do “open sesame” and post this now. Why the hesitation? This Baklava is the Best one I have ever tasted, it just was the photo. It simply does not do justice to the heavenly sensation that it creates in your mouth and down your throat. I was waiting for the moment, when I would make this sinful indulgence again, but well it just did not arise.

Anyways, I personally think that we should ban Baklava. yes, you heard right. Its worse than drugs – makes you a die hard addict. I mean see it this way – I, don’t love sweets. Period. I am among the 0 .00000001% of women who DON’T go gaga over chocolate. In fact I run the other way. Sugar syrup makes me hurl and even the smell of desserts in general does not give that velvety esthesis which it usually induces in average humans. Inspite of all this – I did a complete U-Turn and all but finished a huge plate of Baklava all by myself. I simply couldn’t stop myself from reaching the fridge like 10 times a day to fork a mouthful!
(...)
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Post tags: almonds, caster sugar, cinnamon, cloves, lemon, walnuts

I dig simple recipes – after all one should be incentivized, for even thinking of cooking at home after a hectic day at work isnt it? But cooking same old day to day meals can be boring! And who has the time to think of new stuff anyways? When I wanted to make changes to my same old meals, I thought of simply revamping some of my oft repeated dinners with minor changes. Instead of kidney beans, switch it to cannellini beans, instead of couscous try quinoa, try brown rice instead of regular white rice, go for hearty one pot soups instead of elaborate 3 course meal, go for Orzo instead of regular macaroni or spaghetti pasta! Probably same recipe but with a new makeover! Avoids tedious ‘oh-no-same-old-stew’ voices around the house and you don’t have to struggle to make this happen to!
(...)
Read the rest of Herbed Wheat Orzo Pilaf at Chef In You

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Post tags: chives, garlic, lemon, marjoram, olive oil, onions, oregano, Orzo, Parmesan, parsley, peas, pistachios, thyme

If someone asked us to move our house pronto, all hell would sure break out. And no – it would surely not be cos of all our possessions in the whole of our house (well except one). The number of items in my kitchen alone would be enough to cause us all the headache! And if you thought, I am talking about kitchen appliances, you would be wrong again! Its my pantry and food items that would pose a problem! My husband challenges me that he can pack the rest of the house in half the time than it would take me to pack my kitchen items alone. I am not even talking about fastness or energy here! Having  had enough of the taunts , I decided not to buy any major items until I emptied out my pantry.

(...)
Read the rest of Moroccan Harira Soup at Chef In You

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Post tags: chickpeas, cinnamon, ginger powder, green lentils, lemon, onions, tomato, vermicelli

I had abundant Plums thanks to our landlord’s hard work. I was of the opinion that I could be a gardener easily – I mean how hard can it be to grow couple of plants right! Guess I was wrong! The number of calculations, rotations, soil types, placement of plants etc that our landlord takes care of threw my dream haywire! I did learn a bunch of gardening skills from him though – and on top of it what more we get to reap his efforts!!!

I was quite busy trying out various recipes with plums and what better way to use a bunch of fruits than to make preserves. I already made Plum Jam the first thing when the season started, hence I thought I will try something else this time since my jam got over a long way back! I am not able to recall exactly from where I adapted the recipe from, but this one is good. I know I made a bunch of changes – the original one used LOTS of sugar which I cut by half. I used more citrusy flavors and this preserve uses raisins which was what caught my fancy – try it, you will like it too.

Discard the pits of the plums and chop them coarsely

Bring sugar, orange, lemon juice along with the zest to a boil

Reduce the heat and then add the raisins, honey and plums.

Keep simmering and stirring once in a while

until it starts thickening up

It takes approx 45min-1 hour. Follow the canning process as in this post and store the preserve.

I served it with some warm oatmeal scones.

Related posts:

1. Pluot Jam – Is it Plum or Apricot? …or both?
2. Plum Jam and Canning Jam 101
3. Plum and Pecan Bread
4. Plum Crumble Cake – the type that melts in the mouth!
5. Apricot Vanilla Jam
6. Strawberry Jam – all ‘bottled’ up

© DK for Chef In You, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: honey, lemon, orange, plums, raisins, sugar

Sometimes something as simple as a dip can make one’s day! I mean I knew that some foods are special and always help to lift my spirits a bit, but never knew how much a humble Guacamole could do, to brighten my day, to bring back all my energy back with just few bites with corn chips. The other day, I had a lot of work to finish, few errands to run, bills to pay and by the time I finished all of it, by 4 in the evening I was exhausted! As I was moping around, I got a call from an acquaintance asking me whether she could drop by for that long pending tea!! Well I have to admit – if you come to my home unexpectedly – don’t be surprised – to be given only tea/coffee. I keep a poor snack pantry! No chocolates, No chips, No munchies, no coke/pepsi, No nothing!

I would probably treat you to some nuts, Oatmeal (!!), fruits or whip up a smoothie! So imagine my chagrin when I realized that I dint have time to buy anything and suddenly I remembered corn tortillas I had – exactly 3 of them leftover. I always buy avocados which I consume at least once a week, thanks to the immense nutrition that it provides. Come to think of it, all health diets should have a section dedicated to avocados. Guacamole being such a simple dip with most of the ingredients always in my refrigerator, I thought of preparing this nutritious snack for her. But before I go this popular Mexican appetizer/snack let us see more about Calories and Nutrition in Avocado.

Nutrition in Avocado

1.Avocados contribute nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including 4% of the recommended Daily Value (DV) for vitamin E, 4% vitamin C, 8% folate, 4% fiber, 2% iron, 4% potassium, with 81 micrograms of lutein and 19 micrograms of beta-carotene.

2.Avocados contain 76 milligrams beta-sitosterol in a 3-oz serving of avocado. Beta-sitosterol is a natural plant sterol which may help maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

3.Avocados act as a “nutrient booster” by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene as well as lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

4.Great antioxidant and can be used for skin disorders

5.Avocado will aid healing for people suffering from digestive and circulatory problems

6.Another benefit of avocado for the skin where avocado paste can be applied to rashes and rough skin to make it smoother.

7.The brighter the fruit, the more beta-carotene (the substance that helps to prevent cancer) your avocado contains.
Source : From several online sources on the net.

Though the calories and fat in an avocado is quite high, these fats are actually mono saturated and thought to reduce blood cholesterol.

Method

Cut 2 medium avocados(or 1) in half and discard the stone. Scrape the flesh from the halves and mash it roughly with a fork. I like them chunky, but if you prefer smooth guacamole just blend them in a processor.

Add the onion,chilli,lime zest,juice,tomatoes and chillies. Stir and then add the cumin powder, pepper if needed and the olive oil.

Halve the remaining avocado, dice the flesh in small pieces and stir into the guacamole. This step is optional. You can instead use all the avocados and mash them along with the rest. Squeeze the lime juice to taste. Meanwhile stack the corn tortillas one on top of the other

Cut then into Chip size pieces.

In a seperate bowl, in 1-2 tsp of oil mix the chilli powder, cumin-coriander powder, salt

drop the corn tortillas in the bowl to coat them with the mixture ( again this step is optional. You can bake them just as they are and they still turn out great)

Place them side by side on a baking sheet.

Bake them for 5-7 min in a 350 F oven or until lightly crisp. They get more crisp after cooling.

Serve the guacamole garnished with the cilantro and with stack of these Baked chips.

Related posts:

1. Grilled Corn and bean salad
2. Vegetable Chips
3. Corn Muffins
4. Mexican Tortilla Soup
5. Baked Falafel Burgers – Nutriton & taste hand in hand
6. Baked Soybean Koftas – healthy and low fat

© DK for Chef In You, 2009. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Avocado, cilantro, corn, cumin, lemon, lime, onions, tomato, tortillas