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 :)

Kolhapuri masala

    Kolhapur, city from South-west Maharashtra, has been blessed with delecious cuisine.  From, taambda rassa, pandra rassa to  sukka, they have also been entrusted with loads of vegetarian dishes like Misal, bharleli vaangi and ghavachi kheer as well.  What makes Kolhapur additionally special is largest production of jaggery owing to massive sugarcane fields around.  Not only on culinery terms, they excel in Jewellery, leather chappals and wrestling.  Relegiously, they have also been termed as, 'DAKSHIN KAASI' due to presence of Goddess Mahalakshmi.

    Though they multi-excel, our key point to note would be the entire soul for Kolhapuri cuisine - Kolhapuri masala.  The unique combination of dry roasted spices like sesame seeds, coconut,  garlic along with garam masala like cinnamon, cloves, star anise flavours this masala in an wholesome way.  Special regards to the chilly used here - Bedgi mirch (dark in colour, mildly spicy), Jawari mirch (lightly toned, but highly spicy)  So, when I saw an recipe by Prachi Joshi from GOOD FOOD Magazine (May 2014), I could hardly resist myself from preparing them.

So, here they are.  The given recipe yields 250 gm of Kolhapuri masala (You could half them, for an small batch also).  At room temperature, this can be stored in an airtight container, for almost ten months.

Whipped ganache

 I had plans to bake an awesome cake for my wedding anniversary, and so inspected my refrigerator for my available ingredients.  With cream and white chocolate lying around, I happily proceeded to make ganache sauce...  Later, I was shocked to realize that instead of planning an icing for my cake, I had settled for an sauce :/  sigh..... So, as I started browsing around, I had,  understood that this ganache sauce can be whipped up to form an icing.  OMG, that was sooo close, an blessing in disguise, actually :)

Ganache, an sauce is used as sinful filling in truffles.  Dark chocolate and cream are usually added in 2:1 ratio, but milk and white chocolate can alternatively used too.   It is an myth to refer white chocolate as an, 'chocolate' because they have an lot of cocoa butter content in them than the actual cocoa iself.

Care should be taken that ganache should be an smooth pudding-like (ie, an thick sauce) before whipping, if they harden after refrigeration, they must be brought under room temperature till they become saucy.   Alternatively  overwhipping might also result in grainy textured output.  So, whipping till they increase in volume and become fluffier might be suggested.

How to make an small batch of buttercream?

     There is always an need to stay in shape, isn't it?  Most of us are foodies and we try to explore with high-calorified contents, forgetting about their impact with our waistline:P  So, what happens when we make more than needed buttercream or any other sinful delights? We try to consume them someway or the other, adding more fat to our peaceful life.  So, as an extra-cautious tip, let me start my post about making an small batch of buttercream for your delicious bakes.

And, what is extra special about this batch is that, it has cornflour, which stabilizes the cream from high temperature. Also, due to hot summer, I prepared them with an touch of 'icebath'.   The resulting buttercream was super-creamy and delecious.  They can be cling-wrapped and stored in refrigerator, for upto two weeks.

Whipped cream - From Amul tetrapack

Whipped cream is essential in any baking.... sandwich them between cake, pastry or top in your favourite puddings, trifle... this cream enriches every dessert  :P  Though they are also made from non-dairy cream (which is far less expensive and requires lesser time to whip), the latter's  reduced reach or availability makes it an tougher part to execute.

Though, whipped cream is said to be undone with tetra packs due to those  interrupting stabilizers , separating the liquid cream from solid one helps us to recover from the same, also increasing the fat content in the cream.  I just went through the fact, when I had an glance at Nita Mehta's Cakes and Cake Decorations. She has clearly explained that separating liquid cream, and whipping up the solid one might result in good outcome and all thanks to her, it did :D

So, here comes the mighty solution for all-time-bakers.....

You will be needing 200 ml of Amul fresh cream, 2 tbspn of castor sugar (or icing sugar)

Do not shake the Cream, refrigerate for minimum two hours.  Open the Amul Fresh Cream pack, and separate the creamy part, reserve liquid in separate bowl (You can use liquid cream for cooking purpose)

And this creamy part is placed below ice-bath (an large bowl filled with ice-cubes)  and we start to whip using electric blender.  

After five minutes, when volume almost doubles, add icing sugar and continue to whip.

It will take another ten to twelve minutes, and there you get nice stiff peaks.

Aren't they lovely??

DO NOT OVERBEAT THEM, as there are chances of butter separating from the mixture.  Use them as such.  If you want to store, freeze.

Linking this to CCC Challenge, hosted by Srivalli

Hari boot/Green garbazo beans/ Pachai kondai kadalai

Eversince we moved back at hydi, i see this bunch of green stems floating throughout the market.  Local residants, do drop by, purchase few stems and pop up a green capsule-shaped shell into their mouth.  I, always wondered what they were.. and yes, finally gathered courage previous week and brought few.  The leaves were rich in green capsules, when pinched insides were hari boot or pachai colour kondai kadalai.  I was surprised, because this is first time i am seeing them without packets ;)

And yes, for the next few hours, anybody wud have guessed my pain, it is sorting out green capsules, and then lateron pinching them to release hariboot (the residants here called it as the same)

But, my lovely daughter do helped me in collecting these precious beans.. three cheers to varsha!!!

After collecting them, I googled them and found out they were rich in dense nutrients.

• Fresh green garbanzos are full of protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber and contain no trans or saturated fats.
•  They are “nutrient dense”, containing good amounts of vitamins A,C,& E, potassium, iron, manganese, copper, zinc and calcium as well as being a good source of folate, which is important for growing oxygen-carrying red blood cells. 
• With only about 120 calories per half cup serving, they can play a role in weight management by delivering excellent nutrition with a feeling of satisfaction that prevents overeating.
• Additionally, fresh garbanzos are excellent for low sodium diets because they are minimally processed without the added salt found in canned garbanzos.

So, why wait friends, you can go ahead and drop them in few of ur

• Vegetable pulao/rice preparation

• Fresh salads

• Soups

• Curry

• Stuffing in ur dosa (call it masala kadalai dosa :p)

• Sundal recipe/dry beans recipe

And yes, will prepare my own dishes using the same too.. watch on for more updates

Puliogare powder

Hi guys, today we are goin to see how to make basic puliogare powder...
This powder, when dropped in airtight container can be stored in for 2-3 days.. If you are interested in preserving upto a month, then avoid jaggery,coconut and powder rest.
Just prepare it and refrigerate... u can do puliogare rice in instant... will be posting puliogare rice recipe soon ..

Ingredients required

• 1 tsp chana dal
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 tsp raw rice
• 4-5 red chillies
• 2 tsp grated fresh coconut
• 1/2 tsp whole jeera
• 1/4 tsp peppercorn
• 1/4 tsp methi seeds
• 1/2 tsp whole dhanya
• 1/2 tsp hing
• Few pieces of jaggery/gur

Leaving out jaggery and hing, dry roast all ingredients untill they become dark coloured and emit nice aroma.

Then powder them along with hing and jaggery, store in airtight container

Soy milk

Soy milk is most nutritious drink made by blending the soya beans and straining the liquid left behind.  These are easily available in packets, and there are also machines used in making them called soy milk maker that are found abundant in Asian homes.  These soy milk can be flavoured and had as such.  They are also used in making smoothies, dosas etc.  So, let us learn how to make soy mik at home...

Ingredients required

• 200 gm soya beans
• Water, as required
• Fine muslin cloth (to filter)

Method

Soak soya beans for about 12 hours.  Wash them, and heat at moderate flame for ten to fifteen minutes.  This is done to destroy any harmful enzymes, if present.  Then blend it in blender along with 2 cups water and filter using cheese cloth/muslin cloth.  This process will exactly resemble the coconut milk extraction.

After extraction, heat the milk till boiling point and again for five to ten minutes on simmer flame.  Remove, cool and refrigerate.  You can store for three days...

Condensed milk

Ever thought about making condensed milk at home??? yes, it is possible and there is nothing so wonderful than making ur own condensed milk and using them in desserts....

Ingredients required

• 2-3 cups milk powder
• 3-4 tsp butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup water 
• Electric blender, of course :)

Method

In a blender, take water, butter and sugar.  Beat it thoroughly till butter and sugar dissolves

Now add in milk powder.  When adding milk powder, be careful to add in batchwise, like adding one cup of milk powder and blending.  After sometime, add another cup and blend such that milk powder gets incorporated into fluid very well.  

Now, our condensed milk is ready.  Store in air tight container and refrigerate!!

Coconut cream

Coconut cream is thick textured than coconut milk, and is used in making various desserts, baking and gravies etc.

Ingredients required are coconut gratings from 2-3 whole coconuts, half cup water.
Prepare thick coconut milk by grinding coconut gratings with water and strain it.  Take the first extract (ie thick coconut milk) and refridgerate it to get set.  This may take six to seven hours

 After that, take coconut milk out, you may find coconut milk getting separated to two distinctive layers, the creamy part will settle in top surface, whereas the liquid settles in bottom

Take the cream part and use the liquid as per you desire, this cream is called as coconut cream.

Tomato puree

First take 1/2 kg tomatos and heat them in vessel containing two  cups of water for about 20 minutes.
Then cool and peel the skin off.

Carefully using the knife, cut and remove the seeds and white stem  part below.  Blend them.

Tomato puree is now ready!!!!!  This may yield 3/4 cup of tomato puree.

Home-made paneer

Ingredients required

• One litre milk
• Juice of 3-4 lemon

 Method

At first, boil one litre of milk

Let the milk rise up.  Then add lime juice of 2 lemon and let the milk curdle.

After this set up a drainer vessel as in pic and spread the moist cloth over it

Pour the curdled milk over the vessel

The next important step is to wash the curdled milk in lots of tap water in order to wipe out lime content present, this is called paneer

bring sides of moist cloth together and squeeze the content to get dry mixture.