Sweet Milk Ice Cream

Here's a recipe for ice cream that tastes like the kulfi we are used to eating in India. This recipe for Sweet milk ice cream is from King Arthur catalog. It is one of the few recipes that I made the same day I saw it.

Fortunately I had all the ingredients on hand and the ice cream base came together in no time, though I had to wait overnight to freeze and make the ice cream. This recipe is made from a predominantly milk base instead of a custard base (with eggs) but it is creamy and almost gelato-like. The tapioca starch takes the place of the eggs to stabilize the base, lending it a rich, creamy texture to the finished ice cream.

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Egyptian Ghorayebah or Ghreybeh Cookies for #Food of the World

For this month's Food of the World event, we are going to Egypt. I have a ton of vegetarian Egyptian recipes bookmarked that I wanted to try for today, but then I ended up making these easy-to-make 3-ingredient cookies.

I met some of my blog buddies last month and I was wondering what to take for them. Then I googled for Egyptian cookies and these Ghorayabeh or Ghreybeh came up. Like I said the recipe only has 3 ingredients and is very easy to put together with ingredients straight from the pantry. Some of the recipes had cardamom, but I kept it plain. If you want add a little ground cardamom or vanilla to flavor the cookies.

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Almond Rice Pudding with Homemade Caramel Sauce

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: 1 Sauce -- 2 Dishes

Dish: Almond Rice Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce

I LOVE rice pudding but hardly ever make it because of my husband is not fond of milky desserts. When I saw this rice pudding with caramel sauce, I was initially skeptical to try because I feared it was going to be too too sweet. But it was probably the best rice pudding I ever made.

I had some almond milk that needed to be used, so I used it to make the rice pudding. You can use regular or other non-dairy milk. But the creaminess of the dish might suffer a little bit with some of the milk alternates.

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Homemade Caramel Sauce

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: 1 Sauce -- 2 Dishes

Dish: Caramel Sauce

We are starting a brand new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is '1 Sauce -- 2 dishes using that sauce'. I clarified with Valli if the sauce had to be savory and she said sweet sauces are also fine. I made this caramel sauce couple of months back and it has been in my drafts. So posting the recipe for caramel sauce today and I have 2 absolutely decadent recipes using this sauce coming up in the next couple of days.

Making caramel has always intimidated me, I burnt quite a few pans and quite a bit of sugar that I even stopped trying. But then happened to see this easy to make caramel sauce recipe on Food52 and I gave it a try.

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Lemonade Concentrate

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Summer Vacation Recipes

Dish: Lemonade Concentrate

Whenever my son thinks he needs money to buy something from school, he asks if he can open a lemonade stand. My answer is always is 'go ahead, but don't ask me to make the lemonade'. He doesn't really get the concept that he has to spend money first to earn later.

But I wanted to make him lemonade anyway because my husband bought 2 huge bags of limes and lemons and as they say when life gives you lemons (and limes), make lemonade. Which is exactly what I did :-)

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Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Blogging Marathon# 64: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Wholewheat Dishes

Dish: Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

So for the final day of 'Wholewheat dishes', I have my kids absolute favorite cookie, Chocolate chip cookie. They were so happy when I made them and I was happy that they are made with wholewheat flour are a little more nutritious than the ones with all purpose flour.

Whenever I'm making any baked goodies for the family, I usually sub at least half of the all purpose flour with white wholewheat or wholewheat pastry flour. I don't care if the texture suffers a little bit with the substitution but I feel better serving the family something that is a little more nutritious than just empty calories. My next focus is in cutting down sugar -- lets see how that one goes.

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Vegan Lemon Cupcakes

We are cruising past May with jest speed, last weekend was my birthday and Mother's day. We had a fun weekend getaway to Connecticut and a beautiful Mother's day party at a dear friend's house. Hope you guys had a good Mother's day. But make sure to appreciate your mom not just on her special day, but every day of the week -- she deserves it :-)

I made these cute little mini lemon cupcakes for Mother's day last weekend. It is a variation of the basic vegan vanilla cupcake recipe, but instead of vanilla flavored with lemon zest and pure lemon extract.

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Salted Caramel Popcorn

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Movie Night Snacks

Dish: Salted Caramel Popcorn

I have never been a fan of popcorn, especially the ones sold at the movies or even the microwave variety. Growing up my parents didn't want us to eat outside food, so they never bought us anything when we went to the movies. So I never associated going to movies with popcorn or food. I continue to do that with my kids too. My older one never asked for it, lets see what the little one does.

I had a really bad popcorn when one of my friends bought a big tub of it and it was just so terrible that it ended my already non-existent relation with movie popcorn. Good thing with most of the non-Indian movies is that they are short and even before you realize you want to munch on something the movie is over. But Indian movies force you to buy snacks to kill time and money.

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Noodley Pudding (Siwayan/ Semya Custard pudding) for Blog Anniversary

Month of May flew by really, really fast. It was quite a busy month jam packed with a lot of fun and food -- celebrated my birthday, Mother's day, met some blog buddies, took a painting class along with couple of friends, planted a raised bed garden and caught up with family and friends. I wish all months are this way -- even though it went fast, a lot of things have happened and most of the time is accounted for unlike some months were absolutely nothing happens in the whole entire month.

Along with the other happy incidents, my blog completed 9 years and entered into it's 10th year of blogging. I don't think I even knew what I was doing or what I wanted to do with the blog 9 years ago when I started it. This space was my way of documenting my recipes, never thought I would last this long. Being a stay at home mom for the last 3 years, the blog has become my main hobby -- it gives me something else to think about other than the mundane everyday chores.

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Bagel Chips with Cinnamon Sugar

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 25

Bake of the Day: Bagel Chips

After a easy, breezy palmier recipe, here's another baked dish that is very very quick and easy to make. These Bagel chips are made using store bought bagels and they are crispy, crunchy and delicious.
I first saw these crunchy bagels on Siri's blog and mentally noted it down to try. My husband buys bagels from Costco & BJ's occasionally and if you know anything about these warehouse stores, you know that they come in wholesale quantities. So we get about 9~12 bagels in one shot. I don't usually eat bagels and it's just my husband and my son who have to finish the whole bag. After about 2~3 days, they get tired of them and we have these sad looking bagels in the bread box.

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Oats Rava Laddoo

Traditional Rava laddoo gets a slightly healthy makeover with the addition of ground oats in this recipe. Saw this being made on a Telugu cooking show couple of days ago and then tried it today.
Oats are lightly roasted and ground. They are then added to the regular rava laddoo ingredients -- rava/ semolina, sugar, dry grated coconut and dry fruits. Melted ghee and warm milk act as glue to hold these laddoos together.

These tasted exactly like the regular rava laddoos. My 2 year loved them (she loves anything with nuts & raisins in it), but I was surprised that my super picky son also liked them. They are quick and very easy to make -- takes about 15 minutes to make the entire batch. Also these are goof-proof, especially for people like me who are prone to screw up consistency of sugar syrup, this is the perfect recipe :-)

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Balehannu Halwa (Coconut - Banana Halwa)

This is the final dish I made for Sankranthi. The actual festival was very low key, but we are heading to our cousin's place this weekend for some belated celebrations. My cousin puts up a beautiful golu and she also celebrates 'bhogi pallu' for the kids.
As I was thinking of what to bring, I found this interesting halwa with coconut and banana in 'Vegetarian Cookbook of India' cookbook by Mridula Baljekar. I had bananas that needed to be used up before leaving for the weekend, so this was a perfect recipe to make good use of them.

Also the recipe uses dry grated coconut cooked in some whole milk to give the texture of fresh coconut. Finding good fresh coconut is a little difficult here, but I always have dry grated coconut in my fridge, so this is a very convenient recipe to make for me.

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Rajasthani Badam Halwa (Almond Pudding for ICC)

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli gave us Vaishali's recipe for Badam Halwa/ Almond Pudding. My mom makes awesome badam burfi, but I have never tried badam halwa before, so I really wanted to make it before the deadline. I knew I had some whole almonds in the freezer and this is a great recipe to use them up before I go buying for more. Holiday season is a great time to stock up on nuts, flour & sugar since many of the stores have them on deep discounts. So if you have the pantry space, then this is the right time to go shopping for dessert & baking staples :-)

Sorry, I digressed. Coming back to this amazingly delicious badam halwa. Recipe had clear instructions to use non-stick pan to avoid sticking, so I used by brand new ceramic coated pan that I bought from India and it worked like a charm.

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Middle Eastern Date & Honey Cake

We are travelling to the Middle East for this month's 'Home Baker's Challenge'. Rafeeda, our lovely host for this month gave us some delicious sweet and savory dishes from Arabia to choose from. Since my family loves sweets, I made a deliciously sweet Arabic cake.
I wanted to bake this cake last month itself, but I ran out of dates and the whole month passed by before I realized it was the deadline to post for the event. So I rushed and bought some dates and made this cake last night. My husband who has a very big sweet tooth, absolutely LOVED it. It was a little too sweet for me, since it has all the sugars you can possibly think of. May be next time I cut down on the other sugars and use only honey.

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Butterscotch Ice Cream with Almond Praline topping (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Summer Specials
Dish: Butterscotch Ice Cream with Almond Praline topping (Eggless Recipe)

We are starting another edition of blogging marathon today. Can't believe we are almost at the mid year mark and before we know it, it will be holiday season and a brand new year again. Hmmmm... time sure is flying. Coming back to the present, we have been enjoying nice warm temperatures for the past couple of days and hopefully this weather is here to stay.

My theme for this week is 'Summer Specials' and for the first day I have a sweet and cool ice cream. I think it was my sister who once asked for a ice cream with nuts and I started looking for recipes online. One of the search led me to Sruthi's Part time chef blog and her butterscotch ice cream got me with her amazing clicks. I made the ice cream right away.

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Mango Pachadi (South Indian style Sweet Mango Chutney)

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Mango Mania
Dish: Mango Pachadi

As I was thinking for recipes to make for this weeks theme, I saw this sweet mango pachadi as part of Tamil Nadu thali on both Sandhya's & Jayanthi's blogs. It sounded sweet, tangy and spicy. I had some chopped mangoes in the freezer and I went ahead and made this chutney. It tasted great with white rice, curd rice and even roti.

The jaggery I used was a little dark that made the chutney a little darkish instead of the golden color in Sandhya's and Jayanthis blogs. Taste was however right on point.

Recipe from Sandhya's recipe:

Ingredients:

Mango - 1 large, peeled, deseeded and diced

Jaggery (or brown sugar) - ½cup, grated (adjust as per taste)
Sugar - 2tbsp

Green Chili - 1 small, finely chopped
Mustard seeds - ½tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Cook mango pieces with some water until cooked through and tender.
• Add jaggery and sugar, mix well and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 4~5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a small saucepan, add the mustard seeds and green chilies. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the oil to the mango mixture and mix well. Enjoy!!

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 40.

Also linking to Fabulous Feast# 14, being hosted this week by Valli & Prachi.

Bavarian Dumplings/ Dampfnudel (eggless recipe)

This month's host of International Food Challenge, Saraswathi Tharagaram (Sara's Yummy Bites) is taking us on a culinary tour of Bavaria region in Germany. Germany is located in Western Europe. The topography of the country is varied, and includes regions of deep forest and high mountains, as well as a wide valley surrounding the Rhine, Germany's largest river. The highest mountain peak, the Zugspitze, lies on the border with Austria. Less than 3 percent of Germans are farmers, and the country must import much of its food. Apples, pears, cherries, and peaches, as well as grapes for wine production, are important crops in Germany. 
German regional cuisine can be divided into many varieties such as Bavarian cuisine (southern Germany), Thuringian (central Germany), Lower Saxon cuisine or those of Saxony-Anhalt. For this month we going to try Bavarain cuisine from Southern Germany. 

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West Bengal -- Lobong Lathika

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 30
State: West Bengal
Dish: Lobong Lathika

The last Indian state we are going to visit today is West Bengal. It is located in eastern India and is the fourth most populated state in India. It is a major agricultural producer in India. West Bengal is noted for its political activism and for its cultural activities and presence of cultutal and educational institutions. The state capital Kolkata is known as the 'Cultural Capital of India'. The state's cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditiona, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing football besides the national favorite sport Cricket.
Like the other states I mentioned, my dad was in West Bengal on work for extended period of time. He would send us rasgullas in big containers, which is why I wrongfully thought rasgullas were from Bengal (they are actually from Orissa). He brought back a a variety of beautiful clay dolls from Ghurni. Showcases in my parents house are filled with these lovely dolls.
Cuisine: Rice and fish are traditional favorite foods in Bengal. Bengalis LOVE their fish and have a vast repertoire of fish based dishes. Sweets/ desserts occupy a very important place in Bengali's diet and at their social ceremonies. They make distinctive sweets from milk products, like roshogolla, chomchom, kalojam, sandesh, pitha and the list is endless.

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Mohanthal for ICC (Gujarati Besan-Mawa Burfi)

Valli picked a simple and delicious Gujarati special sweet for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC). I am a big fan of burfis/ fudges because they are easy to make and don't need too many ingredients. Today's burfi is a Gujarati special and is made with besan, mawa/ khoya, sugar and nuts. 

This sweet is very simple to make and can be done in less than an hour. Only complicated thing involved is to know when the burfi reaches the right consistency. I took it out of the pan a few seconds early and the burfi didn't set and was a little sticky. So I put it back in the pan and cooked it for another couple minutes to get the nice, soft, melt-in-the-mouth burfi. It does require quite a bit of sugar and ghee, so eat them in moderation. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 7~10 days.

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Madhya Pradesh -- Indori Poha with Jalebi

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 15
State: Madhya Pradesh
Dish: Indori Poha with Jalebi

We are exploring Madhya Pradesh today. Madhya Pradesh is in Central India and the name literally means 'Central Province'. It is nicknamed 'Heart of India' because of its geographical location in India and it is the second largest state in the country by area. Madhya Pradesh is home to a large tribal population, who have been cut-off from the main stream development.

Cuisine: Like any other state the cuisine of Madhya Pradesh varies regionally. Wheat and meat are common in the North and West while South and East are dominated by rice and fish. Bhopal is known for meat and fish dishes. From what I've read, Indore is foodie's paradise and therefore it's now on my bucket list :-) Street food of Indore is renowned with eateries that have been active for generations.
Specialties: Dal bafla (consisting of a steamed and grilled wheat cake dunked in rich ghee which is eaten with daal and ladoos), Poha and Jalebi.

Today's Dish(es): When I read that the most famous breakfast item in Indore is Poha (flattened rice) with jalebi, I knew I had to make it. Jalebis are made all over India, but the combination of poha with jalebi is something that is very unique to Indore.

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