Elective Project- 8th semester
June 30, 2011
Tomato Rice
Lunch menu- Tomato rice, curd and pickle. The curd and pickle is bought, but the rice, I made.
Easy-peasy recipe. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan (the same pan that the rice will be cooked in), add 1 teaspoon of jeera seeds (cumin), 6 cloves of garlic, 1 large onion finely chopped (about 1 cup). Fry till slightly brown. Add 1 tsp of haldi (turmeric) powder, 1 tsp of chili powder (or less depending on how strong your palette is), 2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of corriander powder. After about a minute or 2 of frying, add 4 chopped tomatoes. Fry together for about 3 minutes. Add 11/2 cups of Basmati rice and 3 cups of water. Put in a tsp of ghee (helps keep the rice from sticking as it cooks). Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down and cook for ten minutes. Leave to rest for about 5 minutes before serving.
And its done. Tastes best when eaten with curd and pickle! :)
June 28, 2011
Music for the Soul
Ludovico Einaudi. Only one word- Wow.
One of the few classical composers who's work is famous while he is alive.
I discovered him only recently. Was sent a link by a friend a while ago, but don't remember it striking a chord with me. I looked him up after listening to the music 'I Giorni' on the Airtel 3G add, 'Endless Goodbye'. And after that, I couldn't stop listening.
My favourite I think is 'Nuvole Bianche'- utterly sublime. His style is known as a minimalistic approach to piano composing. Rightly so, because he uses variations of the same 4 chords throughout Nuvole Bianche.
I love how he has restricted the music to a combination of a maximum of 2 or 3 instruments. Really allows you absorb the uniqueness of the instrument, as apposed to 20 or 30 different ones in an orchestra.
I also downloaded sheet music. Another of my summer projects- learn them! :)
Listen to Primavera and Rainy Mood together. So awesome.
Blog Post of someone who witnessed one of his concerts. I envy you, Meg!
Baked Mushroom Lasagne
I lost a bet, which is unfortunately not that common. Unfortunate for me, that is. I owed the winners lunch- pasta.
I was in the mood to try something different today. And after checking the cupboards for what kind of pasta we had, I was forced to make pasta from scratch- pasta stock surprisingly over.
My Mum made lasagne twice in the past week, so I felt quite confident that I could do it.
For the pasta (enough for 6 people, or 4 big eaters):
2 cups of flour and 3large/4medium eggs. Break the eggs into a well made in the centre of the flour. Add a pinch of salt and mix from centre outwards. Knead dough. The book said ten minutes, but it took me longer. Guess I need to work on my biceps. It should form a nice smooth, easily pliable ball. Keep aside wrapped in a slightly moist tea-towel.
I used a pasta machine to make the lasagne sheets, and then placed in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes.
Tomato Sauce: I used some leftover sauce from yesterday, so not sure of the exact quantities. Boiled and pureed tomatoes. Fry garlic and finely chopped onions in olive oil with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and a pinch of sugar. Add pureed tomatoes and cook for ten minutes.
Bechamel Sauce: Add salt and pepper to hot olive oil (about 4 tablespoons). Add 2 tablespoons of flour and a teaspoon of Italian herbs. Stir continuously for a minute. Slowly pour half a litre of milk. Keep stirring to prevent any lumps. Nothing can be worse than lumpy white sauce! Once off the heat, add one third cup of grated cheddar (or any other cheese). Quantity of cheese can be reduced since more cheese will be added to the lasgne. Make sure that the sauce is off the fire, cheese can split the milk. Ugly experience.
Note: According to my biggest food critic- my mother- It's not called a Bachamel sauce if there is no nutmeg. Oops. Please add a teaspoon of powdered nutmeg just before you add the milk.
Mushroom filling: Add 8 chopped cloves of garlic and one cup of finely chopped onions to hot olive oil. Cook till slightly brown. Add 4 cups of diced mushrooms. Seems like a lot, but it will reduce to half. Add salt.
The exciting part- putting it all together!
Start of with layer of lasagne sheets, then tomato sauce and mushrooms, then more pasta, then grated cheese and white sauce. Keep layering up till the top. Finish off with white sauce and cheese right on top.
Bake in the oven for about half an hour will the cheese is a beautiful golden.
EAT!
Note: Even though this was a pretty good outcome for my first attempt, some pointers-
1. Make pasta sheets thin. Mine was a bit too thick.
3. I only used cheddar and a tiny bit of parmesan that I could find. Use more parmesan and even mozzerlla.
2. Make sauces thick. Weight of pasta and slippery sauce didn't let it stand like this- Click for a perfect picture.
I was in the mood to try something different today. And after checking the cupboards for what kind of pasta we had, I was forced to make pasta from scratch- pasta stock surprisingly over.
My Mum made lasagne twice in the past week, so I felt quite confident that I could do it.
For the pasta (enough for 6 people, or 4 big eaters):
2 cups of flour and 3large/4medium eggs. Break the eggs into a well made in the centre of the flour. Add a pinch of salt and mix from centre outwards. Knead dough. The book said ten minutes, but it took me longer. Guess I need to work on my biceps. It should form a nice smooth, easily pliable ball. Keep aside wrapped in a slightly moist tea-towel.
I used a pasta machine to make the lasagne sheets, and then placed in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes.
Tomato Sauce: I used some leftover sauce from yesterday, so not sure of the exact quantities. Boiled and pureed tomatoes. Fry garlic and finely chopped onions in olive oil with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and a pinch of sugar. Add pureed tomatoes and cook for ten minutes.
Bechamel Sauce: Add salt and pepper to hot olive oil (about 4 tablespoons). Add 2 tablespoons of flour and a teaspoon of Italian herbs. Stir continuously for a minute. Slowly pour half a litre of milk. Keep stirring to prevent any lumps. Nothing can be worse than lumpy white sauce! Once off the heat, add one third cup of grated cheddar (or any other cheese). Quantity of cheese can be reduced since more cheese will be added to the lasgne. Make sure that the sauce is off the fire, cheese can split the milk. Ugly experience.
Note: According to my biggest food critic- my mother- It's not called a Bachamel sauce if there is no nutmeg. Oops. Please add a teaspoon of powdered nutmeg just before you add the milk.
Mushroom filling: Add 8 chopped cloves of garlic and one cup of finely chopped onions to hot olive oil. Cook till slightly brown. Add 4 cups of diced mushrooms. Seems like a lot, but it will reduce to half. Add salt.
The exciting part- putting it all together!
Start of with layer of lasagne sheets, then tomato sauce and mushrooms, then more pasta, then grated cheese and white sauce. Keep layering up till the top. Finish off with white sauce and cheese right on top.
Bake in the oven for about half an hour will the cheese is a beautiful golden.
EAT!
Note: Even though this was a pretty good outcome for my first attempt, some pointers-
1. Make pasta sheets thin. Mine was a bit too thick.
3. I only used cheddar and a tiny bit of parmesan that I could find. Use more parmesan and even mozzerlla.
2. Make sauces thick. Weight of pasta and slippery sauce didn't let it stand like this- Click for a perfect picture.
June 27, 2011
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
"Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake"
I bake. I don't decorate. If at all, its a smothering of icing, usually rough around the edges for an obviously intentional rustic appearance. Glazing is far easier. Simply pour over and sugary stick liquid does the rest of the job.
But I guess my to-be seven year old cousin didn't know all this when she asked me to bake the cake for her birthday party. Damn it. She is the epitome of girly-girls! That meant, pink, purple, flowers, butterflies, princess, fairies, ... that sort of thing.
Luckily, my aunt(absolute icing goddess) was visiting and the cake would have a chance of looking pretty.
Recipe from 'Cakes and Slices' (Australian Women's Weekly)
First melt 125g of chopped dark chocolate over a double boiler. In another bowl, cream 125g butter, teaspoon of vanilla essence and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Separate 4 eggs, and add yolks to creamed mixture. Add the melted chocolate. I've read and been told that the chocolate should be cooled to room temperature so that they don't cook the eggs, but in a hurry, I've poured hot melted chocolate into an egg mixture, and I don't remember any eggs being scrambled! Still, I advise you leave the chocolate to cool.
Add 1/4 cup of peanut butter. The recipe calls for smooth, but the only peanut butter in my house is homemade crunchy. I didn't measure the peanut butter, I used about 6 tablespoons, but the flavour was still quite dominating.
Add 1 cup of sifted self raising flour (3/4 cup plain flour : 1 tsp baking powder) and 1 cup of milk. Whisk egg whites and fold gently into mixture. Pour into greased and paper-lined baking pan and bake at 170 degrees for an hour. The recipe said and hour and a half, but mine was done in about 65 minutes.
(note: my cake was a bit of a disaster. Got a burnt at the bottom and had to slice off about 2mm. I had made a double recipe. Placing the two layers on top of each other made a sloping mountain shape as apposed to the 2 tier plan)
Icing: The fun part.
Icing sugar and butter at room temperature (2:1) mixed with an electric whisk. Add food colouring as desired. If you want pink, test the strength of the red colour in a bowl of milk.
We used pink as the base and purple piping.
Icing was a bit of a mess. We were a bit clueless as to what to do with the cake to cover up the unevenness. We found chocolate chips, chocolate fingers, smarties and some wired butterflies and used them as best we could.
Last touch- chocolate butterfly. Paint the shape onto aluminium foil and refrigerate till firm. We had to add more chocolate layers to prevent it from breaking.
All in all, it was fun baking and icing, despite the mishaps and messiness. Plus I also learnt that piping isn't as hard as I imagined. :)
The birthday party was most enjoyable. The little birthday girl changed outfits about 5 times. Loved the excitement. One highlight was the magic candles. What priceless expressions. :)
I bake. I don't decorate. If at all, its a smothering of icing, usually rough around the edges for an obviously intentional rustic appearance. Glazing is far easier. Simply pour over and sugary stick liquid does the rest of the job.
But I guess my to-be seven year old cousin didn't know all this when she asked me to bake the cake for her birthday party. Damn it. She is the epitome of girly-girls! That meant, pink, purple, flowers, butterflies, princess, fairies, ... that sort of thing.
Luckily, my aunt(absolute icing goddess) was visiting and the cake would have a chance of looking pretty.
Recipe from 'Cakes and Slices' (Australian Women's Weekly)
First melt 125g of chopped dark chocolate over a double boiler. In another bowl, cream 125g butter, teaspoon of vanilla essence and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Separate 4 eggs, and add yolks to creamed mixture. Add the melted chocolate. I've read and been told that the chocolate should be cooled to room temperature so that they don't cook the eggs, but in a hurry, I've poured hot melted chocolate into an egg mixture, and I don't remember any eggs being scrambled! Still, I advise you leave the chocolate to cool.
Add 1/4 cup of peanut butter. The recipe calls for smooth, but the only peanut butter in my house is homemade crunchy. I didn't measure the peanut butter, I used about 6 tablespoons, but the flavour was still quite dominating.
Add 1 cup of sifted self raising flour (3/4 cup plain flour : 1 tsp baking powder) and 1 cup of milk. Whisk egg whites and fold gently into mixture. Pour into greased and paper-lined baking pan and bake at 170 degrees for an hour. The recipe said and hour and a half, but mine was done in about 65 minutes.
(note: my cake was a bit of a disaster. Got a burnt at the bottom and had to slice off about 2mm. I had made a double recipe. Placing the two layers on top of each other made a sloping mountain shape as apposed to the 2 tier plan)
Icing: The fun part.
Icing sugar and butter at room temperature (2:1) mixed with an electric whisk. Add food colouring as desired. If you want pink, test the strength of the red colour in a bowl of milk.
We used pink as the base and purple piping.
Icing was a bit of a mess. We were a bit clueless as to what to do with the cake to cover up the unevenness. We found chocolate chips, chocolate fingers, smarties and some wired butterflies and used them as best we could.
Last touch- chocolate butterfly. Paint the shape onto aluminium foil and refrigerate till firm. We had to add more chocolate layers to prevent it from breaking.
All in all, it was fun baking and icing, despite the mishaps and messiness. Plus I also learnt that piping isn't as hard as I imagined. :)
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June 26, 2011
Food and More Food
So, as I vowed I'd do, I decided to blog about food.
I love the kitchen- for both cooking and eating.
My holidays began 3 weeks ago. I spent the first week catching up on sleep and getting used to the idea of holidays. :)
I thought my first cooking entry would be the 3 course lunch for 15 that I cooked in that first week- Bruschetta, Spaghetti (mushroom, brinjal, red peppers, omlette in a tomato sauce), Coconut Pie. But I didn't take any pictures, so I didn't feel like blogging about it. I will have to make it again and take good pictures.
So, the next 2 weeks my mum's sister and family were here. I did some cooking for them. Again, no pictures.
I will be using my Dad's camera- Canon 450D for the food pictures. I hope it does justice to the yummy food. All food photographs in this post and after are ones that I've taken.
What kind of food?- The stuff I usually cook- Indian (rices, dhals, curries,... etc.) Italian (starters and pasta) and of course lots of baking (mostly desserts) and hopefully some new things too.
I love the kitchen- for both cooking and eating.
My holidays began 3 weeks ago. I spent the first week catching up on sleep and getting used to the idea of holidays. :)
I thought my first cooking entry would be the 3 course lunch for 15 that I cooked in that first week- Bruschetta, Spaghetti (mushroom, brinjal, red peppers, omlette in a tomato sauce), Coconut Pie. But I didn't take any pictures, so I didn't feel like blogging about it. I will have to make it again and take good pictures.
So, the next 2 weeks my mum's sister and family were here. I did some cooking for them. Again, no pictures.
I will be using my Dad's camera- Canon 450D for the food pictures. I hope it does justice to the yummy food. All food photographs in this post and after are ones that I've taken.
What kind of food?- The stuff I usually cook- Indian (rices, dhals, curries,... etc.) Italian (starters and pasta) and of course lots of baking (mostly desserts) and hopefully some new things too.
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| Clockwise from top- Autumn Cake, Chocolate Souffle, Apple Turnovers, Chocolate and Pecan Brownies. |
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