Tag: anagha godbole

Categories
American Cakes chocolate dessert

Bourbon Cherry Chocolate Upside-down cake

I love California, beautiful weather, amazing nature and abundant produce. Spring time is just awesome here. Wild flowers everywhere, air is crisp and there is a feeling of newness in the air. Farmer’s market starts getting more produce and as the month of May rolls around, you start seeing cherries in the market. A few types of cherries like Brooke, Rainer and more.

We love going cherry picking, so much fun to pick the beautiful ruby red fruits right off the tree. It’s very close to where we live, we go there to pick not just cherries but even peaches & corn. We go early, pick the fruit and have a picnic whenever we go. I will be doing a quick video soon to show you all how awesome it is.

May is very special because its my daughters birthday.

She is sophisticated, beautiful, smart, confident, loving, content, full of love and empathy, I must have done something right in my previous life to have such a wonderful daughter.

In fact I thank my stars everyday and count my blessing that I am a mom to two most wonderful children. Very understanding, no attitude, pure love.

Since I make an effort to cook with whats in season, I thought why not make a cake with these gorgeous cherries for my baby’s birthday. She loves chocolate, she loves fancy desserts and love cherries.

I decided to make a Cherry Upside down cake. I wanted to make something a little more decadent, sophisticated so decided to roast my cherries with the Bourbon before baking with the batter. The bourbon adds a very distinct & complex flavor to the cherries and the roasting intensifies the flavors.

I know its a pain to pit cherries one at a time so I decided to buy this from Amazon, and I love it. You can pit 6 cherries at a time, the juices don’t go all over the place and the pits also stay in place.

The cake batter is the same as my chocolate cake, I made only 1/3 of the batter since we did not want a huge cake. Cherry and chocolate is such an incredible combination, and with the addition of the whipped cream, it comes very close to the ‘Black Forest Cake’.

We loved how it turned out and it looks gorgeous too, a little less than my daughter though 🙂

Cherry upside down cake
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Bourbon Cherry Upside Down cake

Decadent chocolate cake with boozy caramelized cherries

Course cake, Dessert
Keyword cake, chocolate, dark chocolate
Author Anagha

Ingredients

Ingredients

For the Cake: This batter makes three 8inch round cakes

  • 340 g Unsalted butter about 3 sticks; 340g
  • 1 1/2 cup brewed black coffee alternatively take 4 tbsp of instant coffee with hot water
  • 90 g Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 175 g Dark chocolate roughly 72%
  • 450 g light brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tsp salt
  • 6 large eggs cold from the fridge
  • 3 large egg yolks cold from the fridge
  • 250 g All-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon Baking soda

Cherry topping

  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 6 Tbsp Water
  • 6 Tbsp Butter
  • 25 Pitted Cherries

Instructions

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 375 F

  2. Line , three 8 inch round cake pan line with parchment paper

Cherry Topping

  1. Mix the cherries , sugar and butter together

  2. Pour in the bottom of the cake pan

  3. Cook for 10 min till the sugar is little caramelized

  4. Take out the pan and add the bourbon & salt

Cake

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F
  2. Combine butter and coffee steel pot over low heat. Once melted, remove from heat, then mix in cocoa and chocolate, followed by brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix in eggs and yolks, then sift in flour and baking soda.
  3. Mix well till you see no dry flour spots

  4. Pour the batter in the prepared pans

  5. Bake until cakes are firm for about 30 minutes (a toothpick inserted into the center should come away with a few crumbs still attached)
  6. Cool cakes directly in their pans for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack, peel off parchment, and return cakes right side up.
Categories
Cakes chocolate dessert Not sure

Triple chocolate cake

I am not a chocolate person, I know I know that sounds completely absurd , who can not like chocolate etc etc. I do like to have a bite of good quality dark chocolate but not crazy about chocolate cookies, cakes, brownies etc. So I don’t end up making a lot of things unless kids want it or some guests are coming over.

So today is my very good friend’s birthday. Last year for her birthday her husband brought a really nice mango mousse cake, but she kept looking for chocolate. It was so funny when he hubby said well there are chocolate curls that are on top of the mousse cake, and you should have seen her face. Anyway to say the least I knew that I had to make a special chocolate cake for her this year.

Until I tasted the chocolate in a museum of chocolate when I visited Antiqua Guatemala a couple of years ago. Antigua is a beautiful city in Guatemala. I fell in love with its cobbled stone streets, to beautiful architecture to lovely doors and so much more. I loved that however small the homes might be, each of them had a courtyard, and you know I am a sucker for courtyards. My dream home will have a large wrap around porch with a beautiful courtyard.

  • Courtyards of Antigua

The chocolate museum was just fantastic It was fascinating to read about the history of cacao beans and how it was used as a currency in those days, and how the chocolate was made.

A stone on which the cacao beans are ground

So I started my research my focus was to make sure that it has rich chocolate flavor and also that I need to incorporate coffee in this. Based on what the man at the chocolate museum told me, coffee helps enhance the chocolate flavor and vice versa. I also had watched an episode of Pati’s Mexican table where she added a cup of boiling water in her chocolate cake to make it moist. So all of that combined and settled on this recipe very close to a recipe by Stella for the cake. Instead of using the Swiss buttercream, I decided to make a simple ganache frosting and it worked really well.

What I like about this recipe:

  1. The cake batter comes together in one pot
  2. You can make both the cake and the frosting base a couple of days ahead, and put it together on the day of the party
  3. Its rich, decadent and yet not overly sweet

So if you have a special occasion or you are in a mood for chocolate cake, this is a perfect recipe.

I also have a video for the recipe, check it out !

If you give it a try, let me know how you like it 🙂

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Bourbon Cherry Upside Down cake

Decadent chocolate cake with boozy caramelized cherries

Course cake, Dessert
Keyword cake, chocolate, dark chocolate
Author Anagha

Ingredients

Ingredients

For the Cake: This batter makes three 8inch round cakes

  • 340 g Unsalted butter about 3 sticks; 340g
  • 1 1/2 cup brewed black coffee alternatively take 4 tbsp of instant coffee with hot water
  • 90 g Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 175 g Dark chocolate roughly 72%
  • 450 g light brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tsp salt
  • 6 large eggs cold from the fridge
  • 3 large egg yolks cold from the fridge
  • 250 g All-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon Baking soda

Cherry topping

  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 6 Tbsp Water
  • 6 Tbsp Butter
  • 25 Pitted Cherries

Instructions

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 375 F

  2. Line , three 8 inch round cake pan line with parchment paper

Cherry Topping

  1. Mix the cherries , sugar and butter together

  2. Pour in the bottom of the cake pan

  3. Cook for 10 min till the sugar is little caramelized

  4. Take out the pan and add the bourbon & salt

Cake

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F
  2. Combine butter and coffee steel pot over low heat. Once melted, remove from heat, then mix in cocoa and chocolate, followed by brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix in eggs and yolks, then sift in flour and baking soda.
  3. Mix well till you see no dry flour spots

  4. Pour the batter in the prepared pans

  5. Bake until cakes are firm for about 30 minutes (a toothpick inserted into the center should come away with a few crumbs still attached)
  6. Cool cakes directly in their pans for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack, peel off parchment, and return cakes right side up.

Tools used :

KitchenAid Standmixer

Wilton Cake pans

Categories
dessert Drinks & Coolers Fat Free Fusion Gluten-free Indian Italian Vegan Vegetarian

Kokum Granita

Summer is almost here  and I have all these amazing memories of different summer vacations I have taken.

I remember waking up to beautiful mornings with the birds were chirping, and scent of various flowers filled the air. One of the birds was called Tambat, which translates to Coppersmith. It makes a sound of a hammer beating down a sheet of copper, I guess that’s where it got its name from. After waking up we would wash up, I still remember those big copper earns filled with water.

My Mami a typical woman from Konkan, unadulterated love, simple life and always a smile on her face that’s how I remember her. She would make beautifully scented rice porridge  which would be served on a giant leaf of a Moochkund tree, which is also called ‘dinner plate’ tree. It was simply dressed with a touch of ghee and salt.

Muchkund Leaves

There were bounties of summer like Karvande, Jambhul, but best part about that vacation used to be mangoes, mangoes for breakfast ,Mangoes for lunch, mangoes for snack Mangoes for a drink, what more can one ask for. I still remember very vividly the room full of mango is layered beautifully on a bed of hay. My aunt would tell us to go look for the ones that are ripe and then the party started.

We would wander around in the village, on the paths paved with Chire, a red stone from that region, leading up to the temple. There was a small pond near the temple called Ban Ganga, we would explore around and head home when the stomach started growling.

Mami would have a drink ready for us, made from the Kokum or ratamba as its called in that region. Gorgeous garnet, ruby color, delicious taste and thirst and heat quenching, this used to the the perfect treat after a walk in the village.

Kokum Sherbat

Fast forward to 2018 when I went to Sicily with my family. I fell in love with Italy and would love to live there some day. We enjoyed some amazing foods and a few of the favorites originated in Italy. Cannoli, Arancini to name a few. One of those dishes is Granita, a refreshing icy treat that comes in all kinds of flavors. It so reminded me of the Barf Gola we get in India.

Gelato

The best part was that the granita is enjoyed at breakfast with brioche, dessert for breakfast, what more can one ask for.

So today’s recipe is my summers relived, Kokum granita showcases two of my favorites, konkan and Sicily.

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Kokum Granita

A refreshing summer dessert with tangy and sweet flavors

Servings 4

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup Kokum Agal without sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups of water
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp Cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Method

  1. Bring 1 cup of water and sugar to a boil. Keep stirring till sugar dissolves.
  2. Keep aside. Stir in the rest of the water. Taste and add more sugar if needed
  3. Add cumin powder and salt and stir.
  4. Put this mixture into a baking tray, keep it in fridge for 2-3 hours. The mixture will start freezing around the edges slowly. Take the tray out and scrape the frozen part with fork, and put it back in the freezer.
  5. Keep repeating till all of the mixture is frozen into fine ice.

Serve it in a bowl.

Recipe Notes

You can make this a couple of days ahead, just make sure to scrape it with a fork right before you serve

You can also serve it with cream or ice-cream 

You can serve it at breakfast with brioche 

Categories
dessert French

A Pair of Swans

I met my husband on Dec 31st, got engaged on Jan 14th and we got married in April, between this time we met each other only a couple of times but we talked a lot on the phone. The phone bill ( which my dear parents had to pay) was a clear indication of how much we talked.

Our wedding took place in this town but my parents also hosted a reception in my town. Our family has lived there for four generations and knows so many people who enjoyed being a part of my special day. It was very nice to share our happy day with everyone.

The reception was open doors on a beautiful lawn and the stage was set such that we were overlooking a pool. The pool was full of jasmine and filled the air with amazing fragrance, there was also rose petals everywhere. The back drop against which we stood, had a pair of beautiful Swans, my parents thought those swans represented us, together, ready to fly into our world.

I came to the USA a week after I was married and that separation from my family was not very easy, I missed them very much. There was no internet at home and phone calls were expensive. I remember calling them once a week for 10 mins, it costed $1.25/ min to call India at that time. My dad loves to write letters and we love getting letters from him. In fact, we have an arrangement amongst us siblings about who gets the next letter. Each time Dad writes a letter, one kid gets the original and the rest get a photocopy. At that time, since I was the only one away from home, I always got the originals.

I used to wait everyday anxiously for two people, my husband who would come home at 6, and the postman who would bring letters from India.

My Baba like many other men, does not express his feelings very openly, but his letters exude love, advice, encouragement. In the first letter that Baba wrote, he expressed how he felt when I left India and came to the US. The whole family had come to see me off and Baba was of course there. His words, ” when you said good- bye to us and turned around, you two looked like the pair of swans ready to fly away from the nest’. I have read that letter at least 100 times, and I still cry every time I read it.

My husband made sure to everything possible to make that the transition was easy for me. I love him for that amongst many other things.

When I came to this country, I did not know much about different cuisines other than Indian, and my husband is the one who introduced me to different cuisines. One of the first fancy restaurants we went to was a french restaurant. I still remember eating many firsts like Escargot, Souffle and Profiteroles. I remember the pretty pair of Swans that we had for dessert. Each day is special with him but some are just etched in your memory and that dinner is one of them.

In Roman mythology Swans are sacred to Venus, they say Swans indicate eternal love. We fell in love after we got married and these swans indicate just that, our love for each other.

So swans have a very special meaning for me, the man who gave me life and the man who is my life.

Today’s post specially for our anniversary – it is all about love and I wanted to recreate that dessert from the french restaurant today.

This is a very versatile recipe, today I have shaped them like swans however you can make eclairs, cream puffs and even savory gougres with cheese. I have made these with coffee cream and that tastes amazing

Pate Choux Swans with orange blossom rose

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A Pair of Swans

Its a pate a choux pastry shaped like swans and filled with aromatic rose orange blossom cream 

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword choux pastry, pate a choux
Servings 8

Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup  milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 Tsp of salt
  • 2 Tbsp Sugar
  • 4 eggs

For the filling:

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp Rose water or orange blossom water
  • 1 tbsp dried rose petals for decoration

Instructions

Method:

  1. Take a sauce pan. Heat milk, sugar, salt and butter till the butter is melted. While the mixture is heating, get the food processor ready and the eggs cracked in a bowl/cup. 

  2. While the mixture is heating, get the food processor ready and the eggs cracked in a bowl/cup. 

  3. As soon as the butter is completely melted, add flour all at once and cook on low flame for about 2 mins. When the mixture starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, take it off the heat.

  4. Transfer the hot mixture to the food processor and start it on a low speed. Add one egg at a time to the hot mixture and keep processing till a nice homogenous mixture. The dough will be sticky but don’t worry.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 F
  6. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip.
  7. Fill the mixture in a pastry bag.

  8. Take a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  

  9. Make a tear drop, if you get pointy tips, with wet finger you can just gently tap it down.

  10. Draw swan neck with a small round tip 

  11. Now bake these in the oven for 30 mins. Once the baking is done, let them sit in the hot oven for another 7-10 mins. Take them out and let them cool. The swan necks would need much less time to bake so keep an eye 

For the filling

  1. Mix sugar, orange blossom water and whipping cream  and whip till you get a nice and firm cream. Keep it in a separate bowl.

Assembly

  1. Take the cooled pastry , you can cut a slit .Slice them horizontally and then cut the top in half.

  2. Fill the pastry with the flavored whipped cream 

  3. Attach the swan necks to the puff 

  4. Sprinkle some rose petal so they stick to the cream, and serve

Recipe Notes

If you want to serve these as cream puffs, you can make an opening at the bottom of the pastry and fill the cream with a round tip

You can pipe these and freeze them and thaw and bake when ready

Pate a choux pastry
Categories
Cookies dessert Not sure

Mokonut cookies

I don’t bake cookies much through out the year but around the holidays I try to make different cookies, try new recipes, and give some as gifts.

My family loves chocolate and especially dark chocolate, in fact we don’t buy any chocolate that’s less than 60% cocoa. I love ginger in all forms- in my tea, in chutney, ginger beer and candied ginger.

So what can be better than a cookie that has bittersweet chocolate and candied ginger.. everyone is happy.

 

This year I did not make many since I am traveling during the holidays, but when I got the latest Global Baking issue of Saveur Magazine, I knew I had to try a couple of recipes.

I loved the Swedish buns recipe so I made these St Lucia Buns inspired by that article. Those turned out amazing. I have a quick video on that, do check it out.

For these chocolate ginger cookies, you need candied Ginger, you can always buy it but I feel that it is so easy to make it at home that I always prefer that. If anyone wants a recipe for candied ginger, let me know and I would be happy to share.

I ended up making Buddha’s hand candies as well. If you have not tried using Buddha’s hand, you must, it’s just incredible. I love how it looks and smells, and you can use it like a room freshener.

I’m trying to make quick videos of the recipes I make, so I have posted the one I made for these cookies.

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Chocolate Ginger cookies

Fudgey center, dark chocolate, subtle heat from the candied ginger and the touch of salt flakes make for a decadent grown-up cookie. Perfect for the holiday parties or as a part of your dessert platter

Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword baking, chocolate, cookies, dark chocolate, Ginger
Prep Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 32 minutes
Servings 12
Author Anagha

Ingredients

  • 1 1⁄2 cups All purpose flour
  • 1 tsp Unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup Coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Light brown sugar
  • 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 4 Oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 3 Oz Candied Ginger
  • Flaky sea salt(like Maldon) for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda, and set aside.

  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer  with the paddle attachment, cream butter, coconut oil, both sugars, and salt. 

    Cream on medium speed until pale and fluffy, it typically takes 1-2 mins

     Add the egg, and mix until combined.

    On low speed, add the flour mixture, and mix to incorporate. Mix in the chocolate and ginger until just combined.

  3. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Press and shape to form a 1-inch-thick rectangle, and wrap tightly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

  4. For baking :

    Preeheat the oven to 375°F

    Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. 

    Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough on top. Slice into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and transfer to the prepared sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between each. 

    Sprinkle with sea salt.

  5. Bake until the edges have crisped slightly, 10–12 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

  6. Dont be tempted to bake longer, trust me this time is enough 

Note:

The first time I made a batch of these cookies I followed the exact recipe, but the second time I substituted the coconut oil with equal amounts of unsalted butter. Also, I added a pinch of dried ground ginger to the dry ingredients. Try this variation for flakier cookies!

Categories
Belgian bread Breakfast Brunch dessert

Real Belgian waffles

I love a good breakfast. When my family goes on vacation, I always look for hotels which have a breakfast buffet. You start your day right when you feed your soul and tummy with good food at the beginning of the day.I love a good breakfast. When my family goes on vacation, I always look for hotels which have a breakfast buffet. You start your day right when you feed your soul and tummy with good food at the beginning of the day.

I love this quote from Winnie the Pooh;

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”

“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.” 

See doesn’t it make complete sense?

I love Indian breakfast foods, like Pohe, Parantha, and Appe. And eggs are always classic breakfast candidates, I love them even for dinner. In fact, I do ‘breakfast for dinner’ more often than I probably should. Eggs Benedict are perfect when you are in a mood to indulge, and ‘Huevos rancheros’ when you want something spicy. I love good scrambled eggs, made the French way. A video on those will be coming soon!

When I am in a mood to make something special, waffles are always on the breakfast or brunch table. I love making different types of waffles: savory, plain or something so decadent that you can have it for dessert. Today’s recipe was introduced to me by my son, Mihir. He is not only a foodie, but my best critic and a great cook as well. He makes some mean pork and fish.

He ate these waffles at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco and loved them. So obviously, as soon as he was back home, we started chatting about it and next thing we knew, we were planning brunch for the weekend.

What we might picture as Belgian waffles are very popular in the United States; typically, a waffle that is much thicker than the standard American waffle but made with the regular pancake batter. In the process of making these waffles, I learned that the true Belgian waffles are in fact more like a brioche dough, enriched and risen with yeast.

Look how gorgeous the dough looks with all that amazing yeast at work.

The yeasty dough and the pearl sugar is what make this recipe special.

So what is Pearl Sugar.

I did not about this until came across this recipe. I even found an article that shed a little more light on this. When I wanted to make this recipe, I searched on Amazon and found this. Sometimes its also called Nib Sugar.

If you don’t find pearl sugar, you can take the sugar cubes we get for coffee/tea, and crush them a rolling pin.

When the sugary goodness melts and caramelizes, its just divine. I love serving it with just freshly whipped cream and sometime some fresh fruit compote.

IMG_9614

I know its a dish that you need to plan ahead, but trust me its really worth all that planning and effort.

So give it a try and let me know how you liked it

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:5]

I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen who had heavily tweaked from the excellent Gaufre de Liège Recette Blog and the copious notes of Not Martha.

Categories
dessert Indian Maharashtrian Main Dish Rice Vegetarian

Narali Bhaat

Narali Bhaat

If you notice coconut is used extensively in Maharashtrian cooking, especially in the costal  cooking. Same three ingredients, fresh coconut, Jaggery and rice are used to create a variety of desserts.

Modak

You take the rice flour, fresh coconut and jaggery, with a little bit of steam you turn it into this delicious dumpling, Modak. Modak are made specially for Ganesh festival as those are Bappa’s favorite.

Patole

You take the rice flour, make pancake with it. Stuff it with a earthy mixture of fresh Coconut, jaggery and some aromatic spices like cardamom and poppy seeds, That turns into patole. The same are also found in Kerala

Sandane

Soak the rice, grind it coarsely, makes some jaggery and coconut, steamed the whole make sure to make something like a pudding which can be enjoyed with sweetened coconut milk, it’s called Sandane. Sometime you can also add jackfruit pulp, I love that variation a lot

Ghavan Ghatale

A pancake is made with rice flour and eaten with coconut milk sweetened with jaggery

As you can see that traditional recipes use ingredients that are local, which is why I love cooking these recipes and sharing with everyone.

Today’s recipe is no different, it uses these very simple basic ingredients and turns into this comforting delicious dessert.

Rakshabandhan/ Narali Poornima

The fisherman community does not fish during the monsoon months. They treat the sea as their God and let it rest for those four months. Its on this day that they restart the fishing. They sing songs, dress up and offer coconut as an offering to the sea.

On this full moon the fisherman community celebrates with praying to the ocean God and offer him a special treat of this rice. Since the rice is heavily flavored with coconut, it’s called Narali bhat and the full moon is called Narali(naral=coconut) Poornima( poornima=full moon 🌝)

Narali Purnima

This is also the day when most of the Indians celebrate ‘Rakhi Poornima’. The word is based on the word, ‘ Raksha’, which means protection. It is believed that the sister ties this colorful thread, Rakhi on her brothers wrist as a thank you for protecting her. The brother makes a promise to take care of her.

Now a days it’s a celebration of sibling’s love and I absolutely adore that. We are three sisters and the youngest brother, and on this day we remind each other of the love we share and promise to be there for each other.

This year we could not be together for celebrating this festival but I at least tried to celebrate with this special bhaat and shared it virtually with them.

Here is the recipe!

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Narali Bhaat

A sweet rice dish with coconut and jaggery, flavored with saffron.
Course Dessert, Main Course
Cuisine Indian, Maharashtrian
Keyword easy to make, gluten-free, vegetarian
Author Anagha

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Basmati Rice
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 4 Cloves
  • 4 Green Cardamom
  • 4 tbsp Clarified Butter/ Ghee
  • 8-10 Cashew split in halves
  • 1 Tbsp Saffron dissolved in 1 tbsp milk
  • 1 cup Freshly grated coconut
  • 3/4- 1 cup Jaggery

Instructions

  1. Soak the rice for 15-20 mins in cold water. Drain and set aside

  2. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan

  3. Fry the cashews and set aside

  4. Add cloves and cardamom and saute for a min

  5. Add drained rice and saute for another min

  6. Add the boiling water to the rice and stir

  7. Add a pinch of salt, bring it to a boil and cover

  8. Let the rice cook till all the water is absorbed.

  9. Once the rice is cooked, spread it on a plate to cool

  10. Mix coconut and jaggery and cook till the jaggery melts and the mixture comes together

  11. Add the cooked rice and mix with very gently

  12. Cover and let it steam for 5-7 mins

  13. Add the remaining ghee and saffron milk and mix well

  14. Add the fried cashews and serve

Categories
Breakfast Snack Vegan Vegetarian

Cardamom Maple Granola

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I had no clue what granola was until a few years ago. In fact, any time I saw granola in a coffee shop or a bakery, I would think that it must be a oatmeal resin cookie experiment gone bad, or maybe some got the wrong type of oats. But then a few years ago we visited Mendocino.

IMG_0124

 

Mendocino is a quaint little town north of San Francisco along the pacific; it has a picturesque shoreline, a cute little downtown with art galleries, and chocolate shops galore. This is one of my favorite places to visit. We usually end up renting a big place with friends and cooking and spending time in the jacuzzi- it’s a lot of fun. Anyway, back to my granola, I had a chance to taste some amazing granola on one of my trips to Mendocino, and I loved it. I could see how easily you can customize it to your taste or preference. I started making granola and played around with different ingredients, tried various recipes as well. But the one I liked the most was from Genius recipes. I use that as a base and make changes as needed.

I love making it at home as I can control the kind of ingredients used, I use all organic ingredients which is perfect for my family and friends.

IMG_1159

I packed this Granola for my kids, and they both came home asking for three times the quantity. It seems like their friends also loved it. I like it because it stores well, you can eat it as a snack, or for breakfast with milk, or add to your parfait, the possibilities are endless. The process is super simple- it’s literally just mixing ingredients and sticking it in the oven, you don’t even have to babysit. I normally make it in the evening and let it cool overnight.

Today I served this with fresh apricots I picked up in the farmer’s market. Some chopped apricots, blueberries, yogurt with a touch of salt and topped with crunchy granola. Everyone loved it. You can serve the parfait in a clear glass bowl, and it looks so pretty.

The recipe which inspired me to make this version is from Genius Kitchen. I love the nutty flavor of Olive Oil that compliments the earthy maple. I make many variations of this but our favorites are this one with cardamom and another with star anise, I add some fennel seeds in that along with popper sorghum.

You can use anything you like, its like a blank canvas.

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Cardamom Maple Granola

Ingredients

  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup  raw pumpkin seeds
  • 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut chips
  • 1 cup  raw pecans,  coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup Chopped cashews
  • 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/2cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1pinch coarse salt, to taste
  • 1 tsp Cardamom powder

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 300F
  2. Mix oil, brown sugar, maple syrup in a steel bowl
  3. Mix all the nuts, coconut and oats in a separate container
  4. Add the nut mixture to the oil and sugar mixture.
  5. Mix well
  6. Add salt and stir once
  7. Take a cookie sheet and line with a parchment paper
  8. Spread the mixture evenly on the sheet
    9. Bake
  9. Bake for 45 mins
  10. Stir every 10-15 mins
  11. After 45 mins take it out of the oven and stir in the cardamom powder
  12. Let it cool on the sheet for an hour
  13. Store it in a airtight container
    14. Serve
  14. You can serve this with milk for breakfast
  15. You can make parfait with yogurt, some fresh fruit and this granola
  16. You can eat it as a snack
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https://thesaffrontouch.com/2018/07/06/cardamom-maple-granola/

 

Categories
Appetizer Healthy foods Indian Maharashtrian Main Dish Mexican Vegan Vegetarian

Pulled Jackfruit Taco with Sugarcane tortilla

As you know I love cooking with what’s in season, go visit the local markets, pick up some produce, get some inspiration, bring it back to the kitchen and make something fun. This time when I visited India in Summer, although it was ultra blistering hot, I mean we are talking 108F and 90F at night, it did not stop me from going to the market.

I picked up some raw jackfruit, mangoes from the market and on the way home stopped off to grab a drink of fresh sugar cane juice. As I was driving home, I started thinking about my summer vacations growing up.

It used to be super hot where I grew up, but we still enjoyed our afternoons. A everlasting game of monopoly, carom board, playing cards and endless conversations were so much fun. Every summer we also visited my Nani (maternal grandma). She lived in Mumbai and the train ride to her place used to be another event we looked forward to every summer.

My Mom is a great cook and an amazing planner.  So she would pack perfect food for all our train journeys. One of the dishes was this roti/poli/tortilla made from sugar cane juice, called ‘Rasachi Dashmi’.  It not only tasted awesome but was perfect for the train journey as it stayed good without any refrigeration and tasted great cold.

My nani would always have alphonso  mangoes waiting for us along with other things from konkan and she would make the best Poli in the world. We would devour the mangoes with poli and ghee.

Kokam, Tadgola and so much more. Fragrant yellow jackfruit would fill the air. I will share more recipes using the ripe or yellow jackfruit soon.

One of those things was raw/green jackfruit. She would make the best bhaji with it, with lots of red chilies and tender cashews.

My nani is no more, but her memories I cherish through various foods. My kids are not so lucky to just hop on a train and visit their Nani, my Mom. The 10K miles is a long distance to cover. But we always take family trips in vacations, sometimes local, sometimes even staycations but always make time for family.

I know how important it is to spend time and make memories. We are all big time foodies so more often than not the destinations are picked based on the variety of food we get to eat. We love to explore local cuisines and produce, always a local market visit is included in the vacation plan.

One of the favorite destinations is Mexico, I just love Mexico. Its nice and warm, people are very friendly, I can speak the language and most of all, amazing food. I can visit Mexico many times and nto get tired.

Mexican food is probably my second most favorite food after Indian food. Whenever we visit Mexico, II make sure we go to the local markets and try some amazing dishes. Last time we visited this restaurant in Maztlan, El Precidio and everything there was incredible.

I love Mexican food as it highlights seasonal produce, perfect balance of spice, sweet, savory and just satisfying meal. I love the use chilies in many ways, I love how they use traditional cooking methods to get some complex flavors in dishes like Mole.

One of the most commonly known Mexican foods is Tacos. Simple yet flavorful, incredibly versatile.

Today’s dish is inspired by the  summer vacations, both mine and my kids’s and its tribute to the local produce.

Pulled Jackfruit Taco with Sugarcane juice tortilla

[yumprint-recipe id=’8′]

I would love to know about your summer memories and foods. Please share in comments.

Categories
Breakfast Indian Maharashtrian Snack Vegetarian

Dahi Sabudana- tapioca pearls with spiced yogurt

Spring/summer  is here. The rain gods have been kind and hence all the mountains around where I live are still green.  Near my home there is a barn and they bring out their sheep for grazing at this time, with the rolling hills, and the sheep,  it feels like Swiss countryside.
In India, we celebrate Holi. During holi a effigy of a demoness is burnt in fire. This demoness symbolizes all the mean thoughts, all the resentments that one might be carrying, you burn it all in the fire of Holi.  This is the time when we celebrate New Year according to the lunar calendar. Interestingly around the same time Parsi’s and Iranis’s also celebrate Navrouz, which translates to ‘New Day’. In short its all about starting afresh, leaving all the baggages that you might be carrying and focus on the future.

In India we have Navratri ( which translates to ‘9 nights’) twice a year. Interestingly they both fall when the season changes from hot to cold and cold to hot. One is in spring time and one in fall. During this time you fast, you don’t eat meat, regular vegetables, no cereals. I think it is very much needed, it gets your body time to adjust and also get ready for the new season. Its like a cleanse, where you eat light foods, people also try not to eat garlic & onion.


Each region in India has its own rules of what to eat and what not to eat during these nine months, some eat spinach, some eat tomatoes, others don’t. A few things like tapioca, water chestnut, sweet potatoes, cucumber are eaten across the country.

I come from Maharashtra where Sabudana Khichadi is very popular. I recently did an Insta story on it. Whenever I ask my kids what they want special for breakfast, the answer is Sabudana Khichadi . My husband can eat bowls of it. I normally end up making enough so I have leftovers as he likes to eat it the next day again.

Everyone knows Sabudana Khicadi but might not know this recipe. My mom makes it so well, my sister can eat bowls of it for days and not get tired. I like it more than Khichadi because it feels kind of cooling and I love yogurt 🙂

Dahi Sabudana

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups tapioca pearls ( you can get them in any indian grocery store)
  • 3-4 green chilies ( I use the thai chilies that are super spicy)
  • 1 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
  • 1/3 cup roasted peanut powder
  • 1 cup buttermilk (if you can not get buttermilk, you can churn 1/2 yogurt with 3/4 cup water)
  • 1 cup
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Method

  • Dry roast sabudana/tapioca
  • After it is cooled down, soak in some water for about 30 mins
  • Pound the cumin seeds and chilies to make a coarse paste. I prefer using mortar pestle but you can also use a chopper
  • After 30 mins, drain all the water and soak in buttermilk for at least 4-5 hours.
  • Now add yogurt ( preferably whole milk), roasted peanut powder, chili-cumin mixture and salt n sugar to taste.
  • Garnish with cilantro

Note:

  • You can also cook the sabudana in water until it is translucent ( instead of roasting and soaking in buttermilk).
  • Mix it with yogurt, roasted peanut powder, salt, sugar and the chili cumin mixture. You can also  add tadka of ghee jeera mirchi if desired
  • Garnish with cilantro
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