Chettinadu chicken gravy

Chettinadu gravy is known for its flavourful and aromatic spices, in addition to their tantalizing taste. Here, I have made chettinadu masala, from scratch and this is followed by the gravy.  You can also make the masala in huge batch and store them for later

They were absolutely fabulous and would go divine with dosa/rice/idiyappam.  I am planning to make them furthur...

Sage & lemon chocolate shots

    Hyderabad is sensing an chilly climate of late.  And, due to ramzan fasting, one could find lots of mirchi bhajji & samosa stalls in evening.  I tasted few and they were awesome :) an real treat with respect to weather, isn't it?  Yet, chilly treats need not be savoury everytime, afterall, what are hot chocolate drinks for?   :)

And this time, hot chocolate shots,  is infused with sage and lemon rind for an additional herbal treat.  Sage added the pungent-ness and stood as an bittersome company with dark chocolate.  Lemon rind, beautifully attributed to flavour, and I must say that this holy combination left me completely speechless.

It is quite an surprise, as my daughter loved it, I was taken back, because though these shots were rich & creamy , their nil-sweet component would make her to resist them.  Fortunately, she liked the bitterness and rich chocolate flavour and gulped down the shots.  :)  Personally, I feel that this is an better way to introduce herbal content in her diet.  So, guys ready for shots?  :)

Fruity shortcake

According to wiki, Shortcakes are crumbly bread that is leavened by baking powder.  Not only do they differ in size to regular cakes, but their method of preparation resembles like that of an bread/muffins.   The liquid ingredients used to moisten the dry ingredients are milk/cream,  resulting in crumbly-textured dough, which is shaped as desired and baked.  The baked ones are then, garnished with whipped cream along with fruit & fruit juices.  

So, when such gorgeous short-cakes were, suggested as this month's Baking partners challenge, I could hardly resist myself from trying them.  All thanks to Reeni and Swathi Iyer, for this awesome challenge.  I made this, and my family relished whole-heartedly. 

How to make whipped cream - from commercial powder

     Yes, in this post, I will explain how to whip up an delecious cream, from instant powder.  One magic of this whipped cream is not only that it is instant, but, requires exactly three minutes to prepare.  You can even prepare them the day before, trust me, this can  do wonders to your cake.

All you need is Whipped cream - instant topping (I used BLUE BIRD - 50 gm) and 90ml of ice-cold water.

Refrigerate the vessel (into which you are about to whip) and blender blades for atleast an hour.  Dissolve powder with water and begin to whip.  First minute the liquid will slowly rise to top.  Second minute, you can see lovely curls which swings according to the direction you are whipping and by the end of third minute, you can detect soft, fluffy frosting which has expanded almost, thrice in volume, forming stiff peaks over the blender

As soon as you get  this stage, cover them with cling wrap and refrigerate atleast fifteen minutes, before you use them for frosting.  This will yield you 11/2 cups of frosting.

Happy cooking :)

Butter biscuit

      My routine life, with incoming guests had cornered my blogging to an standstill factor.  But, now, am slowly picking up my pace :)   Yes,  so, for an refreshing start, let me introduce you this butter biscuit.  :)  With an incoming monsoon, we all are forced for an lot of  masala chai accompaniments, aren't we?  And this treat, which is also my childhood- driven inspiration, impressed all.

Special mention goes to the nutty texture, yes, I had sprinkled some coarsely chopped nuts along with cardamon powder.  Tricky part lies in baking them, this biscuit barely needed ten minutes and were super-crispy when cooled to room temperature.  

So, guys, do try them and let me know....

Baingan phobia - My total recall

 Holding the hand of my grandfather, I was enjoying  my evening walk one sunday.  Being the first granddaughter, I was apple of his eye.   We went for a walk in our farm house and were nearing the garden.  The garden, appeared colourful with almost every vegetable one could find on market.  I was deeply enthused by one brightly coloured vegetable, and shedding away his hand, I tried to lean into the plant. By this time,  grandpa had warned me to be more careful, and then suddenly, the wicked thorny-stemed vegetable had stung me deep into my little finger.  I, cried an lot and ran into my grandpa, who by this time had hugged me and cursed the plant for its evil deed.


    For those, who by now wonder, what this dramatic flashback has to do with my post, yes, that thorny, wicked, totally gross  and evil-minded vegetable was none other than brinjal.  :D  :D    That terrible incident, shook my life away ( This itself shows how adament I am, ain't I?) and thereafter, I heavily refused to consume that vegetable.  My grandfather, tried to convince me an lot, but, in vain.

Twenty years after, now, I am still the same sarcastic, home-maker, who never hesitates to remove brinjals out of my plate, be it vaangi baath (delecious brinjal pulao), Kathirikkai masala (Brinjals cooked in spicy onion-tomato gravy), Baingan bharta (Brinjals stuffed with peanut-sesame seed masala and sauted)  Nevertheless, fate has an other side, isn't it?   :D   :D