Recipe Makes 4 oz of Banana Cherry Smoothie with Ginger
Recipe makes 1 tall glass of smoothie
Chocolate Sorbet was our celebration on the National Day of Ice cream, celebrated on third sunday of July! Now that is a fun event started by President Ronald Reagan, and what a way to enjoy the summer! Sorbets feel lighter and more cooling than ice cream, as there is more of water. Ronald Reagan was a Republican candidate, and with the Republican Convention going on, this Chocolate Sorbet is a good accompaniment while watching the RNC. This recipe was found in Stef Ferrari’s book of ice creams. She mentions that she had issues with sorbet, and for me getting the smooth creamy texture in sorbet was a challenge. So I decided to try this recipe out. What interested me also was that this was one of the first non-fruit based sorbet, as popularly sorbet are made from fruit based sweetened water,
The recipe did prove to make it more denser and smoother than my earlier versions. But I had to modify the sugar/chocolate ratio, as the taste had excess chocolate. So adding extra sugar was the only way to fix it! If you are in the mood to buy an ice cream maker, you may want to check out the new ice cream maker with two different blades from Cuisinart. There is one blade for ice cream and one for sorbets! Now I would like to try that, as a special sorbet churning blade will definitely have an impact on the texture of the sorbet. My experience with Cuisinart products has been pretty satisfying across a series of products so I am looking to buy this soon, and thanks again to this blog, I now officially qualify as a professional! For a die hard chocolate fan, this is just one more reason to celebrate and one extra reason to have another scoop of Chocolate Sorbet!
The taste is is chocolaty, texture is dense and sweetness is just right, but the best part is that it only takes five minutes in cooking time! One of the easiest ice cream/ sorbets I have experimented with. It does need overnight aging, and the usual churning time and freezing time.Looks like next week is going to be extra extra hot, and having chocolate sorbet on hand, will definitely assist in cooling the body!
Enjoy the summer with a great selection of ice creams, sorbets and granita and you may just include this chocolate sorbet in that list!
Cooking time : 5 minutes with aging of mixture of overnight
Churning time: Approximately 20 minutes
Freezing time: 7 hours
Tips
If using sweetened cocoa powder, you may be okay with 1/2 cup of cane sugar.
Ensure that the ice cream container is well chilled before making sorbet, otherwise, sorbet will not firm up on churning.
Instinct Factor
Its always best to check the sugar and cocoa level before freezing, so that the end product is to your liking!
Feel Factor
Having a Chocolate Sorbet on a late night evening while watching television, is a perfect kind of summer night! For a die hard chocolate fan, you cannot go wrong with this super easy recipe of making a chocolate sorbet. A non-fruit based recipe sorbet in a flavor that has a wide universal appeal makes this chocolate sorbet an easy recipe to go to!
Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters is an Indian subcontinent delicacy, from a vegetable, that is considered as one of the oldest cultivated vegetables. Its popular name is Elephant Ears, and that is no wonder as elephants are found in abundance in Malaysia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. The size of the Arbi/Colocasia leaves is gigantic and justifies its popular name as Elephant ears! This plant is mainly cultivated in USA around lakes and ponds but in Indian sub continent it is widely eaten for its roots, leaves and corms. My good luck that I live next to a botanist, to whom I introduced this delicacy and he was so captivated by it, that we decided to grow it in a containter in USA, as fresh Arvi leaves are hard to find on a consistent basis! He even looked for it at the nursery for us! As I come from Jain family, my association with roots vegetables is not great, but my mother-in-law makes excellent vegetable curry from Arvi roots. So while buying Arvi root for my husband, I had a Eureka moment, and figured, why not try cultivating this root in a container pot and see if I can have fresh Arvi leaves through the year! So this eureka moment is a result of neighborly mingling and sharing one’s culture and food with others. Also always taking the opportunity to know more about different cultures and cuisines!
The common way of cooking Patra or Alu Vadi is by steaming the leaves. However my mother had an additional way of making it, by frying them. By doing this, it looses some of its extra sharpness in taste and plus the taste is crunchy, and can be served as a warm appetizers, just before the meal is served. Gujarati households have a penchant for fried stuff, so its understandable, why this dish became popular in our household! And my neighbor also liked this version better than the steamed one, and he is not of Indian origin! So this delicacy will definitely appeal to taste buds of many people, and it also has a high visual appeal with its pinwheel look.
The process involves coating the leaves with a spiced gram flour paste on the leaves, and then rolling them in group of three, or single. And then either steaming the rolls, followed by cutting into pieces and then garnish it with mustard, sesame , coconut and lime. However for fried patra, we first slice into pieces and then fry them golden brown and serve with ketchup and chat masala. The taste has some sweetness, some spice, some crunch, that creates a very attractive finger food! I can easily vouch that Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters are addictive if you like them, as you start eating one, and you will soonfinish a handful and want more! And this recipe covers both the fried as well steam option of the Patra, Alu Vadi and Cocolasia Pinwheel Fritters appetizer.
Hope I find luck in growing the leaves in my container from the Arvi root! That way a high dose of Vitamin A and Potassium is always available through these Elephant ears/ Patra leaves! These small joyful moments of discovering something new and learning something new, make my days exciting and keeps my mind eager to learn!
Make both versions, steam and fried, and decide which one you like more!
Recipe makes 60-70 pieces of Patra Pinwheel fritters
Cooking time 1 hour 20 minutes
Prep time: 15 min
Ingredients
For frying and garnishing
Method
Tips
Fresh leaves taste the best. Do not buy leaves that are yellow or lifeless. as it will taste bitter.
When skinning the veins at the back, ensure that you do not cut through leaves, and the smooth edges seem as flat as the leaf.
Instinct Factor
My mother prefers to use only single leaf roll for Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters. This makes the pinwheel fritters to a nice bite size form.
Big spinach leaves can be an alternative to Colocasia leaves, as they have a similar color, texture.
Feel Factor
A snack in a pinwheel form with attractive gold and green colors, reminding me of a peacock feather, when laid together!. Truly enjoyable as an accompaniment to any meal, and a novel way to cook the Patra leaves. Since they are not so easily available in USA, it is a delicacy for me that needs to be truly cherished and savored every bit for its rich unique taste. The chat masala sprinkled on top is a perfect seasoning to this yummy appetizer that is rich in vitamin A and potassium nutrients. Go healthy and eat the steamed version or feel festive and have the Fried Patra Alu Vadi Colocasia Pinwheel Fritters.
A loaf of home made eggless white bread can warm so many mornings and so many hearts! One such loaf was waiting for us, when we came back from an overseas vacation, thanks to a wonderful neighbor of mine, along with some fresh flowers and magazines to read! What a warm welcome from our neighbors for us when we arrived home! I have experimented with bread in the past, have had some success, but of late had become lazy in making bread. But an opportunity arose for me, to give the same warm feeling to the neighbors of mine, as they took a vacation. So there came that unloved bread machine from the way back of a cupboard, as I set out to make bread after almost a year and a half!
I decided to use the recipe that my neighbor used, from the Oster Bread Maker book, which is slightly different than what I have in Cuisinart Convection Bread Maker. This recipe for eggless white bread is more closer to the breads from India, as it has milk, and butter and sugar and we have been spoilt by the many warm fragrant loaves that we have had, courtesy the friendly neighbor!!.\
If I were to compare both the breads, the crust of my bread was more well cooked than the other one, and this was the lightest crust mode in my machine. So I guess the difference is due to the temperature setting in each machine. But as fas the spongy taste and texture, it was the best! The whole house was fragrant with the aroma of warm bread baking, and it was a pure delight to see the rising of the bread touch to the top of the oven!
A few tips to getting good bread, is using lukewarm water, and not letting yeast connect with water! And using fresh ingredients helps in keeping the loaf light and spongy! Making bread is more scientific than most other items, so ensure that you use proper liquid measuring cup to get the measurements perfect. Once you get disciplined about this, you will explore all different types of topping and mix-ins, such as cilantro and green chillies, sesame and red pepper, and go creative exploring just one more way to enjoy a warm loaf of bread. You will be thankful that you invested in the bread maker, even though it uses, that much needed cupboard space!
So break bread, as they say, with the people you care and have loads of interesting conversations over with jellies, spreads and oils of your choice. Eating small bits and pieces of warm eggless white bread with olive oil, flavored with basil and red pepper, is just equivalent to having a five star restaurant experience right in your own kitchen! And what is more, use the thick slices to make Panini too!
Cooking time 3:03 minutes
Method
Tips
Use fresh ingredients, watch how you handle yeast and be sure of your measurements!
Instinct Factor
How about trying all recipes in the bread book! But the next step is to see how to substitute yeast with a great alternative! So experiment with baking soda, and I am going to post one with alternative to yeast soon!
Feel Factor
Happy to be baking bread again at home, and plan to continue the momentum! Warm Eggless White Bread is just a pleasure to eat, the texture is soft and crust is light but brown in color and its great to see the bread holes in a bread you made at home! A home made organic bread is way tastier and cheaper than a bread from outside, and the brownie point is the warm fragrant smell in the morning as you come down for your morning tea! With delayed start option, one can always set the time to bake in the night and it is just ready for you, making your morning a very sunny morning every day, specially for people like my father!!
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Orange Sorbet, having the color of the sun, is a perfect antidote to beat the summer heat! Its a great recipe to have in your recipe collection for this summer. Officially, the swimming pools have opened today, it being Memorial Day over here, so time to look out for cooling recipes that are quick to make and yum to eat!
Memorial Day is also a day of remembering veterans who have served the USA in its wars. Personally I would like to remember a neighbor of mine in NJ, who was a major inspiration for me to get serious about coming out with a cookbook or something related to cooking. We were having conversations on how many recipes to include in the cookbook and so on and so forth, and then we moved away from there. She recently passed away after fighting bravely against cancer. She was one of the first ones, who I asked to critique my blog, and I was encouraged to receive a thumbs up from her for the voice in my writing! Rest in peace Elizabeth Zibman, and your opinion mattered to me a lot as you were a creative writer and a professor at Rutgers! Your confidence in me, helped me take a step towards creating this blog.
This recipe has been adapted from myrecipes.com as it seemed easy enough for my daughter to make it for her class picnic. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it in the 85 degrees weather, though we should have planned to make it earlier, for it to have a more firmer consistency. The picture in this image was after two days of freezing the same!.
The taste feels like frozen orange-lime juice and its quite nice to have a scoop of it in the mid-afternoon to beat the heat, and replace the normal tea break with a sorbet break! Personally I relish the sorbets more, as I have a soft corner for snow cones and ice golas. So this is a cool, fresh juice based, healthy alternative to the syrup based dessert. I truly liked the size, flavor, color and cooling aspect of this high vitamin C delicious dessert, and will be made more often in summer!
Wishing everyone a great Memorial Day and happy memories of the loved ones gone too soon!
Prep time : 30 min
Cooking time : 10 min
Chilling time : 48 hours
Tips
You can try this with ready orange juice in the market, but in that case, reduce the water quantity by a cup and and use two cups of sugar. There might be a slight taste variation, but will prove to be a much quicker way of going about it. Also taste the sugar content before freezing.
Instinct Factor
If you see the juice underneath the top layer, freeze some more.
When you scoop the sorbet, leave it out for 5-7 minutes room temperature, so that it softens a bit for you to scoop nice rounds. Otherwise it will have a brittle crunch feel. And to get perfect rounds, scrape 3-4 times over to make one nice round scoop of sorbet! After all looks do matter when serving!!
Feel Factor
Cool. colorful, healthy, beat the heat, with this easy sorbet recipe, that even a teenager can make! So how about having some sorbet stands this summer instead of the lemonade stands, and earn some good pocket money! Colorful sprigs of mint and orange rind will give additional edge to this delicious cool recipe! Any snow cone and Ice Gola lovers, please make a note of this wonderful sorbet and enjoy the summer!
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Mother’s day provided a great opportunity to try gluten free recipe of Almond Coconut Eggless Cake with Strawberries, that has delicious almond and coconut flour as its base and topped with the fresh strawberries. Something that I had almost a year back, was now being re created in my kitchen, with the recipe of my master chef neighbor who takes special extra care to make eggless recipes for me, since he knows that I prefer not to consume egg based products. Love thy neighbor in true sense over here!!
The almons in this recipe reminded me of another great diamond shaped dessert, Almond Katli from India. it. Coconut flour gives it a nice dense texture, and the look of red strawberries over a beige/cream cake base is quite attractive. This being a fruit topped cake, it is much simpler and quicker to make.
The cake base even though its flourless, does not loose any of its taste or texture. It bakes well and holds shape and coconut gives it a unique sweetness and flavor to cake. And the almond flour and coconut flours are readily available at grocery stores.
On this mother’s day, I was pleasantly reminded of how my mother started baking eggless cakes in a handvo oven, using sand as a base, to give it a slow and even cooking flavor.These cakes by her are the ones that I enjoy most, and are just delicious fresh from the oven. I hope that she will be happy to see that the tradition of exploring more on baking and cooking has continued. So here is the perfect recipe, for me to celebrate the Mother’s day, and for all, a great recipe for special occasion with friends and family!
Tips
Instinct Factor
Feel Factor
Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake are different names of this dessert! Theratipal as it is known in Tamil cuisine, where the word Therati means to stir constantly and Pal, means milk. So traditionally this sweet dish was cooked by constantly stirring the milk and sugar over heat, until it caramelizes. This same dish is only different in color and shape but cooked the same way, in Gujarat too, where it is known as Thabdi. This happens to be my number 1 sweet from Rajkot, and I immensely cherish this simple milk cake flavor. People often call this as milk cake, as I discovered on researching about it on Google.
I am indebted to my Tamil friend philosopher guide and walking buddy in New Jersey, for introducing me to this recipe. The moment I had it, I was reminded of Thabdi from Rajkot and I was so very pleased for getting to know how to make it in simple easy steps. The secret was using condensed milk and heating in microwave. The recipe had been lying with me for 7-8 years, but never so light of the day till yesterday, which seemed to be a perfect timing to try this out on my own.
Yesterday being Earth day, and me being a big big fan of this planet earth, had to something more to celebrate, other than just plant some new flowers and rejoice in the blooms around me! I have always liked getting my hands dirty in the ground to plant something that gives you joy, year after year, and also teaches some important life lessons, One such lesson I have learnt is that everything is cyclical in nature as depicted by seasons that come and go, and every part of nature gets recycled into something else, and hence my feeling is the universe also gets recycled in some form or other and probably we as souls also keep changing our forms and lives over and over again.
As a very happy earthling, this dessert made great choice for celebration, as it is brown like the earth, and sweet and fragrant like the flowers and that bloom in it. Also this being the month of Mahavir Jayanti too, an important festival among Jains on the birth celebrations of Lord Mahavir it gave another reason to celebrate nature and environment and re-emphasize the importance of protecting and living in harmony with mother nature, which seems to be the backdrop on which Jainism values are set, in my opinion.
So wishing a belated Happy Earth day to all with Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake, and hoping that many of you may have planted some nice flowers for the birds and bees or trees for the shade and shown appreciation in one way or the other for our planet earth- home of all and very happy to display this on leaf dish with blue earth background in true spirt of Earth Day!
Tips
If the mixture gets too stiff, add some ghee and a bit of yogurt and mix it in, to make it more pliable. Alternatively a tbsp of milk also might help to make it more soft.
The consistency will harden after some time, so keep that in mind.
For vegan options, please use appropriate condensed milk from soy or almond.
Instinct Factor
Instinct factor is totally at work to recreate this delicacy and tweak the recipe that was more suited to what was more common in Tamil cuisine.Trusting your tastebuds works the best! So feel free to do what dictates your heart! Make sure that yogurt is not too sour, and if you like it more sweeter, add some sugar.
Feel Factor
Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake is a simple ten minute recipe using condensed milk and the end result is a filling, soulful sweet that reminds you of mother earth. The fact that some people refer this as a milk cake, gives an indication to the texture of this delicacy, however it is not as soft as how one would expect a cake is. It is slightly more gooey and with some texture too it. If you like yogurt, milk and caramelized flavor, this might be just a new discovery for you to fall in love with and for me to continue my liking for this sweet. I did find out that I like the yogurt flavor in this sweet, and am extremely happy to share this earth looking sweet, around Earth Day which may be called as Theratipal from Tamilnadu or Thabdi from Gujarat. Great thing is, both start with the same syllable, “Th” and both are part of the this planet earth and this sweet also will be equally enjoyed by people from different part of earth, as did my neighbors!
Falafel Sandwich will definitely “fill” you up with all the protein you need and make you “feel” healthy for sure! How I wish there were more Falafel sandwich options as there are Subway sandwich options! That would be a real nice addition for those watching weight and trying to lose weight once you hit the middle age! Falafel has a very confused origin, but it favours Egypt, to be the most likely place from where it came, and there it is traditionally known as Tamiya. the word coming from Tam,meaning plenty, and tamiya is also a prominent part of the meals of Gujaratis of Sudan and East Africa! Tamiya though are made purely from Fava bean base. I took some time to cultivate this taste, as I definitely did not like the sesame taste as a young kid, as well as the taste of fava beans. My journey to becoming a Falafel fan started with the Cheap Food Eats at Mamoun’s Falafel. The college kids in SOHO district in Manhattan, which housed the all night open joint of Mamoun’s Falafel are always on the lookout for good cheap eats. I have an old school friend of mine to thank for introducing us to this gem.
Mamoun’s is an extremely small joint with hardly 2-3 tables to sit at MacDougal St in Manhattan. A video on the store can be seen at Mamoun’s at MacDougal. They claim to be one of first ones to introduce Middle Eastern cuisine and Falafel to New York. And their Falafel comes from chickpeas base, and hence I can see why it got such a vast popularity, that it has now four new locations in New Jersey and Connecticut! Way to go for a cheap filling, healthy food place, that 15 years back charged just $2.50 a falafel sandwich, and now is just $3:50! The quality has remained consistent over the years, and this is one place we really miss not going to.
So had to resort to making the same at home, and much easily done when using instant mix of Nirav’s Falafel mix, easily available at Indian Grocery store. The ingredients in the pack include, chickpeas, fava, sesame, onion, garlic and parsley and spices and salt. The whole story of the various versions of falafel as well as the making of falafel from scratch is well explained on this blog http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2011/01/falafel/ where she mention how originally this started as vegetarian base food only!
This is a very healthy recipe that satisfies your tastebuds, mind and replenish your body and muscles with the great amount of protein in chickpeas, fava beans and yogurt, and the ease with which this is made. makes it a much frequently had meal in our house. Another great point about it is, it]S rainbow color meal, a principle I try to follow, to ensure the different nutrients are consumed via the different color of foods.
Check out the tips section for more options to the balls and sauces to get more unique flavors or get original and try the various version from scratch as detailed in the blogs mentioned above! This can be a very easy party menu, as it is simple to fry the balls before hand and then slice everything and guests can assemble the falafel sandwich according to the sauces and garnishes of their choice. So why not have a fulfilling Falafel flavoured full on party at home?!
Recipe makes 9 falafel balls
Time to cook 20 min
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Refer my previous recipe of Hummus Recipe Using Chickpeas Canned or Soaked
Tips
If the oil temperature is not right, the falafel balls will be uncooked, and not crispy on the outside and soft to bite. So medium heat, while cooking is essential.
If the mix is too dry, add little water to make it to dropping consistency.
Instinct Factor
If you like sesame seeds on top, use 1 cup water only, and form balls with your hand and then roll it in sesame seeds and fry.
Additional toppings of pickled cucumber, spicy Sriracha sauce are good additions to the falafel sandwich.
I like the pocket pita sandwich but it is also served on a flat pita bread and layer things on top and then folded like a wrap.
Feel Factor
A sandwich of a different kind that is more protein based, cooling, healthy, and tasty as well! It is colorful, makes you feel like you are eating a pakora and yet feel healthy! Crunchy taste of the pakoras with the dressings of hummus, and yogurt based tzatziki is an interesting combination. A definite addition to my monthly menu for the huge protein components that are of high importance for vegetarian diet. And interesting enough. Falafel originated as a vegetarian sandwich and not a meat based so a definite another plus point for me!
Chocolate Cookie Bites Eggless is adapted from Southern Living, whose recipes I am finding quite interesting and quite reliable and works well as I recently have discovered. Though the final output was not the same as shown in the image provided in the magazine, it gave me a chance to create something that I was happy with, as well as the kids for whom it was made!.The interest in this recipe was out of desire to create an Oreo look, but since that did not work for me based on the original recipe, it led me to something different. Inspired by the recent cherry blooms on the neighbourhood trees(a picture of a which I am happy to share), I gave the chocolate cookies a decorative look and feel!.
My personal favourites are the weeping pink cherry blossoms and the Yoshino White Cherry trees in DC , and watching the extreme white blooms glisten in sunlight is a sight of pure joy! If I am lucky to make it to see the peak of cherry blossoms in DC next week, that would be great, if not, I will just have to make do with my own cherry blossom inspired chocolate cookie bites that are firm and yet soft, delicious and stays fresh for a week or so if stored in an airtight container. Bring the beauty of nature within the house and have interesting conversation with your family and friends over this chocolate cookie bites!
Recipe Makes about 45-50 pieces of Chocolate Cookie Bites
Time to Cook : 25 min
Time to Prep : 30-60 min
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Decorating with filling
Tips
Using an unbleached and self raising flour does give a great texture to the chocolate cookie bites.
One can variate the color of the flowers on the top using food color, sprinkles etc
Instinct Factor
If complete round shape is preferred, then roll a ball and press it flat. Then make thumbprint into the cookies to create a space for filling or decorations.
To give oreo look , make round balls and then flatten it a bit. Take two baked cookies and then spread the filling, on one and top it with another.
One can also pair two cookies and spread the filling in between – to create “Oreo” look and feel.
Feel Factor
White cherry flowers atop a bit sized chocolate cookie, in sync with nature and not too high on calories! The taste is heavy on the cocoa, it is firm to hold , but soft on bite, and the icing on top gives it a nice festive look! So even if this is for a regular school bake sale, it catches everyone’s attention because of the size and the decorations on top. So worth the effort, for the taste, looks and just pure fun! The secret in baking is the flour, and the beating of the butter in my opinion, and an happy to continue to explore more on the baking front. Chocolate Cookie Bites are perfect to start a conversation over tea/coffee, or just to satisfy that nagging need to eat something sweet coz you know it is good for the soul!
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Method
