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Showing posts from January, 2013

Lemon sole, fennel/potato salad, fennel mayo

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Cut a fennel bulb in thin wedges, keep the green. Fry in a griddle pan. Cut 2 potatoes in 3 mm slices, boil in salted water for 5 mins till just done. The potatoes should still have a 'bite'. Cut the fennel green finely and mix with 6 tbsp mayonaise. Add some lemon juice. Use 1 tbsp of the mayo to cover the potatoes lightly. Use a scissor to remove the bony sides of the soles and cut off the heads. Dust the fish with flour. Fry the soles in lots and lots of butter, 3 mins per side. Serve as shown  

Soft and moist Coffee Cake

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T his is the cake which I made last week for my wedding anniversary. As I was little busy with the visit of my in- laws and going here and there, I couldn’t post the cake recipe. Coffee cakes are of two types, the one which can be eaten with coffee or the one which has a strong coffee flavor. I wanted to try something different and to bake the cake which I never did before. So keeping in mind my in -laws and husband’s tastes, I ended up baking a coffee flavored cake as all of them are fond of coffee. I found this cake recipe in ria’s collections. It is named as mahogany cake . But as the coffee flavour is too much I named it Coffee Cake. This delicious coffee cake is great for all occasions. Usually coffee cakes have a delicious crumb topping of the nuts. But as it has a rich and buttery flavor I dont want to add any more calories to this. That is why I didn’t decorate the cake with whipping cream. This cake is so soft and moist that when you sprinkle the coffee syrup it will get absor...

Cornflake Cookies

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C orn flakes is something that I love a lot from my childhood days. This is my all time favorite breakfast dish. As always I will be having cornflakes at home I thought of making something interesting and delicious with this for my kid. Nowadays, corn flakes has become a daily must-have for her too. I googled and found this recipe which is very simple from Spicy chilly . I am really obsessed with baking, that as soon as I saw this recipe I had to make this. One day my husband was telling me that I don’t need any occasion to bake. Just one min I will be sitting idle the next minute I will be baking some thing. Before marriage I was not at all interested in cooking. I used to help my mom in the kitchen, but I never tried my hand in any of the dishes. I don't know when this passion for cooking got into me..:)  I think among the cookies, this is one of the simplest and can be tried quickly when some guests are about to visit you. You can even make the cookie dough ahead of time and bak...

Black eyed peas Kheer/Vanpayar Payasam

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Y esterday was Daddy’s (F-I-L’s) birthday and mummy (M-I-L)made this as this is made every year on his birthday. This is the first time Daddy is celebrating his birthday here with us and so I am eating this vanpayar payasam for the first time. It is really yummy. This is also called as sharkara kanji. This is a traditional preparation of Kerala. It is a mix of rice, black eyed peas and jaggery. To increase the taste, a dollop of clarified butter is added. This can be consumed chilled or hot. There are so many different varieties and bases of payasams in Kerala. Trust me this will be loved by all. Daddy’s birthday started off with a bouquet of red roses, a cake cutting, a small gift from us and it ended with a sumptuous dinner... Ingredients Black eyed peas / Vanpayar- ¾ Cup Raw Rice- ¾ Cup Jaggery- 250 gms (grated and melted) / adjust the taste accordingly Coconut- ½ coconut (grated) Dried ginger- 1 tbsp Cumin seeds- 1tsp Method: Roast the peas in a skillet till the raw smell disappear...

Pesarattu / Moong dal dosa- an easy breakfast..

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P esarattu is a common breakfast item in Andhra households. This is very easy to prepare and very nutritious and healthy as the main ingredient we are using to make this dosa is yellow moong dal. This can be made with green gram dal also but since my mom prepares this using yellow moong dal I love this that way. In most of the places, the traditional way of serving this pesarattu is with upma and it is called as pesarattu upma. In this, the moong dal and rice is grinded well and prepared into healthy and yummy dosas. This goes well with coconut chutney with ginger flavor. I like this a lot because this is very easy and simple to prepare without the need of fermenting. Ingredients: Moong dal / Cherupayar / Pesarapappu- 1 Cup Rice- ½ Cup Water- as required Salt- as needed For topping: Onion (chopped)-2nos Green chillies- 2 nos Cumin seeds- 1tsp Salt- as required Method: Soak moong dal and rice in required amount of water overnight or for 5 - 6 hours and then grind it to a fine paste. Add...

Scallops

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Start with the sauce: sweat a finely sliced shallot in a some butter. Add 200 ml Noilly Prat and reduce. Then add 150 ml dessert wine and reduce. When all but a few spoonfuls are left remove the shallot and add 150 ml cream and some safran. reduce again till a nice sauce is the result. Now use a sharp knife to cut half a leek into matchsize pieces. Sweat them in some butter. In a dry pan fry a slice of Spanish ham till crisp. Dry on kitchempaper and crumble. Then boil some balsamico in a small saucepan, add some runny honey, reduce. Finally fry the scallops, a minute per side/                                       Use a brush to make a balsamic/honey                                                                  smear on   ...

Asparagus, pear, sorrel

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This Alain Passard recipe asked for white asparagus and red sorrel, which I didnot have. So I blanched green asparagus for just under 3 mins and rinsed them under cold water to stop the cooking. Heated 30 grs salterd butter. Dried the asparagus and put them in the butter when it started to foam. Cut a nice pear in 8 parts (leaving the skin on) and added these segments to the asparagus. Turned everything a few times, 5 to 6 mins in total. At the last minute added the shredded sorrel. Plated, keeping the butter in the pan.. Mixed the juice of 1/2 lemon with the butter and poured the sauce over the plates, with some seasalt and black pepper.

Happy new year....

W ishing all my readers a very Happy New Year … In the dawn of this new year, I would like to go back to some of my some of my hit recipes of last year. I cannot differentiate between my recipes as all are dear to me and all the recipes are made with much time and effort. These are some of the recipes which were liked the most across my family, friends and other blog readers. In January 2012 Tiramisu- Heaven on your tastebuds This was the cake which from long time I was planning to make and at last it happened. This turned out to be delicious and a hit among the family. http://myexperimentswithfood.blogspot.in/2012/01/tiramisu-heaven-on-your-taste-buds.html In February 2012 Basbousa- An Arabian delight I saw this in a cookery show and tried this and it came out perfect. I liked the name of the dish a lot. http://myexperimentswithfood.blogspot.in/2012/02/basbousa-arabian-dessert.html In March 2012 Strawberry Ice cream I made this without adding any colours and the ice cream has turned o...

Ham, salsify, honey/mustard dressing

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Boil the salsify (schorseneren) for about 20 mins. Drain and fry a minute or two in a hot grillpan. For the dressing mix 2 tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Then add wall- or hazelnut-oil and whisk. I wanted to add some chives...but didnot have any. Serve with a soft boiled egg and some caviar.