विजयादशमीच्या शुभेच्छा!:-)

Wishing everyone a very happy dusshera and may the new year bring lot of happiness in our lifes :))

Baked Mango Karanji

I have already posted recipe for baked Karanji. But this one is with a twist. While surfing on the net I came through the recipe of mango laddoos and instantly thought of preparing karanjis using mango flavour. Rest of the recipe is the for karanjis as poste earlier ; here is the link:

http://i-m-not-a-chef.blogspot.com/2010/11/baked-karanjis.html

For stuffing:-

2 cups of Grated coconut

1 cup Mango Pulp

 

Finely Chopped Dry Fruits of your choice

2 tsp. Cardamom Powder

 

1 tin of Condensed Milk

 

1 cup Milk Powder

 

Mix everything together except cardomom powder and cook it in the microwave till the time mixture thickens completely. Remove it from the Microwave and add cardomom powder. Mix. Let it cool down before you start making karanjis.

 

 

 

Follow the remaining procedure as mentioned in the link posted above.

 

 

 

 

Home-made Ghee

This was sitting in my draft for a long time and today I finally decided to post it. Butter shortage in Sweden few days back made me do this tedious yet satisfying job. I make ghee by using unsalted butter like most of us living outside India do. Some time back I had over- whipped the cream that I was suppose to use for cake and it almost tasted buttery. So When I had this emergency for Ghee; I thought let me try making butter from the whipping cream ..and then Ghee from the butter. lets get straight to the recipe:-


You will need:- 
1. Whipping Cream (atleast 30-40%) - Qty. can very as per your requirement. Around 11/2 cup Cream will give you approx. 1 cup butter ( little more or less as per fat percentage) and then ghee.
2. and Blender


1. Bring the Cream down to room temperature.
2. Pour the Cream in a tall container so that when you beat it, it wont come out and spoil your clothes. 
3. Using a blender, beat the cream till butter and liquid separates. It does take quite a bit of time, So please have little patience. It takes about 15-20 mins.

4. When the butter starts separating, the butter particles and water will start splattering  all over ; that is when you can be sure that your butter is done.

5. The butter will accumulate together, so with the help of a spoon take it out from the water and spread it on the plate.

6. Using a fork or back of spoon flatten it out; so that the excess water will come out. Drain that out. Your Butter is ready.
7. Now for Ghee add butter in to deep and heavy bottom pan. Put it on medium heat.

8. After some time foam will appear on butter and milk solids will start to settle down.
9. Continue cooking till all milk solids settle down and white foam appears over butter.
10. Remove and Wait till ghee cools down.

11. Strain using tea stainer and store in to any Glass Jar.
Your Home-made Ghee from Home-made Butter is ready now.

Easy Butter Chicken

Last Evening I had prepare Butter chicken, as you all know it takes a lot of time to prepare and I had loads of work to finish before dinner and also prepare dinner on time. So I tried the short-cut method to prepare this makhani gravy. There is nothing you can do about marination and grilling process for chicken. It takes the usual time it is suppose to take. But once that is ready you can prepare this gravy within like 10 mins. of course if you have all the ingredients in place. Just Read further for a simple Makhni Gravy which you can use to make Butter chicken, Veg. Makhanwala, Paneer Makhanwala etc.


http://i-m-not-a-chef.blogspot.com/2011/01/butter-chicken-murg-makhani.html is the link for your reference. Please follow the directions for the list of ingredient of Marination and Process.

and now for the Gravy:-

You will need:-
Fresh minced garlic 2 tbsp.
Ginger juliennes of 1 inch piece
Green chilli juliennes of 2-3
Mace Powder - 1 tsp.
Green Cardomom Powder- 2 tsp.
Kashmiri Red chilli powder - 2 tsp.
Coriander Powder-  1 tsp.
Kasoori Methi - 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Honey 1-2 Tsp.
Cream - 1/2 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp.
Store bought tomato Puree/Paste- 1 cup

phewwww...lot of ingredients..but trust me...the gravy gets ready in 10 mins.

1. Just to remind again Please follow the process for marination and grilling the chicken.
2. Heat Butter in Pan and add minced garlic. Saute for a minute or two. Add Chopped ginger and green chilli juliennes. Saute.
3. Add tomato paste/puree and saute. Incase you are using paste and 1/2-2/3 cup water(not for puree).  Add Mace powder, Coriander Powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder and salt.
4. Saute till the raw flavour of tomatoes goes away. Once oil starts oozing out; add Cardomom powder.
5. Add Cream and mix well. Add chicken, mix well. Let it come to a boil.
6. Add Honey to kill the sour taste of tomaotes. Finally add the kasoori methi rubbed between your palms; give a good mix and remove from heat.
7. Garnish it with fresh cream and serve hot.

Eggless Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Bought a new silicon muffin tray with flower shape. I wanted to try my hands on muffins and with berries in the season I immediately set my mind on blueberries. I started looking out for a recipe on the net and trust me there are thousands of them. This is a mixture of 2-3 recipes I read; I have modified it my way because some had flax seeds, some had eggs etc. ; I didn't have flax seeds available at home and I was not ready to use eggs as the "Ganesh Festival" is still on. They are great for breakfast, part of a lunch or as a snack. A perfect on-the-go treat. Just read further for the simple yet delicious recipe:-

Ingredients:- (will make about 6 good size muffins)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (whole wheat pastry flour is also fine)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar 
1/4 cup milk
40 ml vegetable oil (i used sunflower oil)
1/3 cup Fresh Orange juice 
1/2 tsp vanilla essence(optional)
1/2 cup fresh blueberries 

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degress C, line 6 muffin molds with wax paper/ grease the muffin molds.
2.Wash blueberries and pat them dry with a kitchen towl. Add 1tbsp of flour and coat them well. Set aside.
3. Sieve together whole wheat flour, baking soda and baking powder 2-3 times.
4. In a seperate bowl whisk together oil, sugar, milk and vanilla essence.
5. Make a well in between the flour mixture and slowly add in the liquid mixture, fold lightly using spatula. DO NOT over mix .
6. Now add in the flour coated blueberries reserving some for garnishing and fold in lightly.
7. If the batter is too thick then add orange juice as required. The batter should not be runny but of a thick consistency that you can spoon out.
8. Spoon the batter into the muffin pans, filling upto 3/4 full. Garnish with reserved blueberries.

9. Bake them for 20 to 30 mins, until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

10. Remove and serve them warm with a cold glass of milk or ice cream.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi :-)

Hi Friends!

I know, I know that I’ve been missing from the blogging world and I assure you that I am back with bang and what better occassion would that be; other than "Ganesh Chaturthi".

सर्वाना गणेश चतुर्थीच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा!!!!!!!!!गणपती बाप्पा मोरया !!!मंगलमुर्ती मोरया !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

I wish you all a Very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi and have a rocking festival ahead!!

 

That is the Ganesh Idol at my mom's place...and we are missing all the fun here in Sweden where things are definitely nowhere as exciting as they are; back in Pune :-(........

 

Special sweets are prepared on Ganesh Festival with the Modaks taking the place of pride.

I prepared them for the first time today all by myself. Earlier I only use to help mom while making it and now have understood how difficult it is to make them. It took me around 1.5 hrs. just to mold 9-10 modaks....phewwww...anyway will not be sharing the recipe as this only the first time I have tried this but I am sharing the photograph here.

 

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