Mango Papaya Smoothie

On a weekend I was feeling for brunch(Breakfast+Lunch) as my husband like to have light breakfast on weekdays so thought this will be nice change for him as well as for me. I had a fresh papaya and mango pulp in my refrigerator and an idea clicked...

My husband and daughter just loved it.

Ingredients- (for 1 glass)

• Mango pulp 1/2 cup
• Papaya cubes 1/2 cup
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1-2 cubes of ice
• For Garnish- a wedge of papaya, whipped cream(optional),cashew nuts(optional)

Method-

1. Cut papaya into small cubes and add it to blender with 1/2 cup of mango pulp.
2. Add sugar,ice cubes,vanilla extract and milk.
3. Blend all these together to form a nice smoothie.
4. Garnish it with papaya wedge,whipped cream and cashew nuts.

Tip- To make the smoothy extra special and richer in taste; add one scoop of vanilla ice cream to the blender and blend it with papaya-mango mixture.

Apple Raisin Strudel

Start of fall season starts with apple picking. We went to apple picking on a beautiful warm sunday morning to a local farm.We were excited to go and pick apples,blueberries freshly from trees. We picked lots of apples and blueberries and had brunch at their hill side cafe overlooking fields. That was a total Funday.

Here are some pictures...

After getting back home I realized; in an excitement we got more than enough berries and apples that we can eat for like 2-3 weeks (I froze the berries and can defrost whenever I need;so bit relaxed) so decided to do some experiments and here is the first one.

Ingredients-

• 1 golden delicious apple peeled,cored and cut into small cubes
• 2 tablespoon golden raisins
• 1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• 2 tablespoon cold butter
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Method-

1. Soak the raisins into water for 30 minutes.
2. Thaw the frozen puff pastry at room temperature for 20-25 minutes.If you have a square sheet cut it into stripes along the folded mark.
3. Pre heat the oven at 375 ⁰F

4. Peel and cored the apple and cut into small cubes around 1/8 inch size
5. Mix lemon juice with apple cubes to coat it evenly to avoid browning of apples.
6. Cut butter into small cubes.
7. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder,raisins,butter,lemon zest and mix well and set aside.
8. Now take the puff pastry stripes and again cut it into half.
9. Take 1 teaspoon of apple mixture and put into the center of pastry sheet and then close the sheet by applying egg wash(totally optional) at edges and press with fork.
10. Apply butter on the strudels.
11. In a small bowl mix 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder and sprinkle it on the buttered strudel
12. Keep the strudels in a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes or till it get golden brown
13. Then take out from oven and let it cool completely and then sprinkle powdered sugar or decorate with sugar glaze.

Orange Cupcakes

It's start of holiday season here in United States. Fall has already arrived and leaves are turning into beautiful colors. Halloween is celebrated on 31st October.Day is often associated with orange and black colors and Jac-o'-lantern a carved pumpkin.

Though this day is associated with kids;grown-ups also loves it.Kids go for trick-or-treating in the neighborhood wearing various costumes like spiderman(most favorite one),witches,angles,fairy and what not!!!!

Grown-ups do costume parties,bonfires and watching horror movies(Not on my list for sure).

I am thinking about doing something extra special this year as my daughter is now old enough to go for trick-or-treating wearing a costume she will pick up soon;yes now she started to picking what she want whenever we go for shopping. So I decided to make cupcakes and trying few flavorings and my husband and daughter liked it so far.Here comes the orange cupcakes.

Ingredients-

For cupcakes(makes 8-9 cupcakes)

• 3/4 cups all- purpose flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon superfine sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 8 tablespoon or 1 stick of soft unsalted butter ( at room temperature) or margarine(but personally I don't like it's taste)
• zest of 1 medium size orange
• 3 tablespoon orange juice( freshly squeezed)
• 2 eggs at room temperature

Method-

1. Pre heat the oven at 375⁰F
2. Sift the flour and baking powder
3. Beat the butter till it gets creamy with hand mixer or cake mixer;then add sugar and beat again adding 1 egg at a time.
4. Add orange zest,orange extract, vanilla extract,orange juice and mix well.
5. Now start adding sifted flour gradually; beat the mixture scarping the sides of bowl frequently to avoid unmixed flour patches.
6. Scoop the batter with ice cream scooper(for even size cupcakes) in a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners and bake for 13-15 minutes or till get golden brown. To taste the doneness insert toothpick into center of cupcakes while they are in oven.
7. Take out the cupcakes and cool it completely on wire rack.
8. Decorate with icing.

Katachi Aamati

Indian food is well blend of all flavorings as sweet,sour,spicy,bitter,salty,tangy . Traditionally keliche paan/Banana leaf is used to serve(as a plate) maharashtrian food. Typical maharashtrian plate consists of salt,lemon wedge, koshimbir/raita, chutney, sukki batata bhaaji/ potatoes dry vegetable,aluchi bhaaji/Colocassia leaves vegetable,katachi amati/curry, bhaji/pakoda, papad, plain rice, masale bhatt/ spicy rice, sakhar bhaat/sweet rice,plain dal, puran poli,dessert, mattha/buttermilk and last but not least vida/ meetha paan/ Betel leaf.

This is my attempt to present a maharashtrian thali served on keliche paan.

There is a typical way on how the serving should be made on your plate like on the left side of plate salt,lemon wedge,chutney,pickle,koshimbir,panchamrut, bhaji, papad, kurdai, puranpoli, shrikhand-puri and on right side batata bhaaji,aluchi pattal bhaaji and kheer and in the center plain rice,masale bhaat,sakhar bhaat and in bowls katachi aamati,milk for puran poli.Sides of plates are decorated with rangoli and eveybody sits on paat/ small wooden raised stool. Before starting to eat everyone says a sholka 'Wadani kaval gheta' and believe me it's soul satisfying food; indulging all your senses.

Now lets talk about katachi aamati. It's a spicy soupy dish accompanying plain rice.Drained water from cooked chana dal is called as Kat. Let's get into it...

Ingredients-

• 2 cups kat (refer puranpoli for preparing kat)
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon jaggery
• 1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried grated coconut
• 4-5 cloves
• cumin seeds
• 2-3 dried whole red chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• salt
• oil

Method-

1. Take grated coconut and cumin seeds and roast it till coconut become golden color.
2. Take kat in a bowl add red chili powder, curry leaves,cloves,jaggery,tamarind paste,dried chilies.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add pinch of asfodia and turmeric powder then add kat mixed with all spices;then add roasted coconut and cumin seeds and boil it till the jaggery gets dissolved.
4. Serve hot with plain rice.

PuranPoli

Happy Dasara/Dussehra/Vijaydashmi to all.

Puranpoli is a one of traditional Maharashtrian delicacies. Coking skills of a girl(especially newly wed)are always tested by how good is her puranpoli. I still remember the get-togethers we did when I was a kid; we all used gather for festivals at my grandma's place;we played,we fought and we ate what a great meals.My aaji/grandma is a very good cook and everyone calls her Anapurna. She is 80 and still want to preapre meals personally whenever we visit. I always wondered will I be able to make puranpolis like her? Gave it a try;came out pretty good but she is the BOSS!!!!

Here is the puranpoli I prepared for naivedyam on Dasara.

Ingredients-

For Puran/Stuffing

• 1 1/4 cups chana dal
• 1 cup jaggery
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• Pinch of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon oil

For Poli/bread/Cover

• 1/4 cup semolina/rava
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup all-pourpose flour/maida
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method-

1. Take semolina/rava and add 1/2 cup water to it; to soak for 30-40 minutes.
2. Take the remaining dry ingredients for poli and add soaked rava along with the water(add water gradually) then add oil to a kneaded dough and once again knead to make soft and loose dough.The dough should be loose and oily to make the dough pliable.Cover the dough and set aside for 1 hour.
3. Take dal and add 3 1/2 cups of water,pinch of turmeric powder and 1 tablespoon oil to it and put it in pressure cooker/rice cooker.It's the quickest way to cook otherwise u can use pot also.
4. Take 5-6 whistles varies with size of cooker. As I don't have puran yantra/machine; I prefer to cook it for more time.Puran yantra is similar to the food mill used for mashed potatoes.
5. Once the dal is cooked drain out the excess water known as 'Kat' from it and save it to make 'Katachi Aamati' a spicy soupy dal.
6. Blend the dal with egg beater or hand blender to get smooth texture.
7. Put the blended dal in pan on stove on medium high and add jaggery,sugar and stir it till it get dissolved completely into dal. Cook this mixture till the spoon can stand straight into it without falling.
8. Then add nutmeg and cardamom powder and mix well. Turn off the stove and stir frequently to avoid burning/sticking at bottom of pan.
9. Make lemon size balls of dough and flatten the dough little with your hand and make a shape of small bowl.Take 2 tablespoons of puran/stuffing and put it into the dough bowl and close the dough.
10. Dust the rolling pin and surface with flour and start rolling out poli/bread spreading the stuffing evenly.
11. Put the tawa/skillet on stove on medium high and roast it on the both sides.
12. Serve hot with sajuk tup/ clarified butter and a bowl of milk.

Happy Navratri - Ude Ga Ambe Ude !!

To all readers a very 'Happy Navratri' - festival of triumph of good over evil.

First Nine days of Ashwin month (Seventh month of Hindu Calendar) is celebrated as Navratri-in honour of Maa Durga. First three days are for worshiping Mahakali Maata, next three days Maa Laxmi and last three days Maa Saraswati.

Tenth day is celebrated as Dasara/Dussehra/Vijaydashmi one of the 3 and 1/2 auspicious days in Hindu Calender. This day also marked as victory of Lord Rama over Raavan. People visit each other and worship Apata Tree and exchange its leaves called 'Sone - Gold'. In Maharashtra, people also ritually cross the border of their village / town. This ceremony is known as 'seemollangha'. Everyone worship their books,notebooks,pens. Various cultural programs are organised in temple like Jaagar,Kirtan,Bhajans and DandiyaRaas/Garba.

My mother and my mother-in-law they both do upawas/fast for nine days. We prepare various sweets for naivedya everyday.

I was talking with my mother to get some ideas about preparing sweets;she told me some awesome dishes that I never tried on my own;there is no harm in telling you I was a guest visitor or should say guest cooker (He he he :))in the kitchen before my marriage.

Then my thought process started;I wanted to try something new and one led to another thing and Ta da !!!

I created a whole new dish.I never saw or ate it before and it tasted good( tried and tested on my husband).

So here I proudly represent - BlueBerry Coconut Delight

[Will tell you story behind blueberries some other day]

Ingredients-

• 2 cups Freshly grated Coconut/Frozen Coconut
• 1 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• Cashews/blanched almonds for garnish
• 1 teaspoon ghee/butter

Method-

1. Put coconut and sugar in a heavy bottom pan on low flame.
2. Add blueberries and stir the mixture frequently.
3. Once the sugar gets dissolved and the mixture starts to bubble add lemon juice.
4. Now stir the mixture till it gets thick.
5. Take off from stove and add cardamom powder and mix well.
6. Apply ghee/butter to a dish and pour the mixture into the dish.
7. Level it with spoon and put some cashews/blanched almonds for garnish.
8. Let it dry for sometime and then cut into pieces.

Tip- The color is so amazing and tempting that you can't wait for long so for quick drying keep it in freezer for sometime and then cut.

Methi Paratha

Me and my husband are avid fans of Methi/ Fenugreek vegetable.It's must have item whenever we go to Indian store. He quoted once that if you cook Methi or Aloo-Baingan for 365 days a year I will not complaint at all(Will be easy for me right?). Now you get the idea how much he likes it.

Considering this I bought extra bunch in addition to the other to prepare paratha/methiche Thepale as we call it at home.Here is the recipe.

Ingredients-

• One cup roughly chopped methi/Fenugreek leaves.
• 2-3 finely chopped green chilies
• 2-3 cloves of garlic(finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin-corriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 cups wheat flour
• 2 tablespoon basen/ chickpea flour
• pinch of asfodia/hing powder
• salt
• vegetable oil

Method-

1. Take wheat flour add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
2. Now add couple of tablespoons of oil and again mix.
3. Add water and knead into a soft dough.
4. Cover it and set aside for half hour.
5. Now make lemon size balls of dough. Roll it with your rolling pin.
6. Put some oil on a frying pan/ tava and fry on both sides till you get golden brown color.
7. Serve it hot with curd,pickle.

Tip- It's a good item to take it with you for traveling. Prepare it in advance and will last for 2-3 days.