Sweet Excuses : Apple Crisp

Hello everyone! I’m sure all of you are busy preparing for a fun and happy Diwali. I always stayed in an apartment with loads and loads of friends. While growing up, Diwali was one of our favorites, crackers, rangolis, dandiya and of course the best part, delicious treats. There was a whole variety to choose from, food ranging from chaats, samosas to piping hot baturas and chole. Yummm….oh how I miss those days. This year we have decided to take our first road trip with baby M to Mysore. Can’t wait. I’m sure M will love it, she loves gallivanting anyway.

Do share all the delicious dishes you cooked up specially for Diwali.

You know, I always seem to have a few apples lying around in my pantry and these days I have them in abundance because my little girl loves her fruits. And, because of their omnipresence, I end up thinking up ways of using them. Anyway, of course, I had apples on hand. So, this time I decided to make something simple with clean flavors and little effort. The assembly was simple and truthfully low effort. As the apples cook down in the oven, the whole house (ok, atleast your kitchen if you live in a house rather than an apartment) smells deliciously warm and inviting.

This delectable sweet addition is something that will keep you going during the day, be it for an after-run energy boost or a pick-me-up with coffee or just a little sweet after lunch... Apple Crisp is packed with the goodness of apples and oats.

I think it's getting to be time to dust the baking pans and trays and get into the full swing of baking, comfort food and all that jazz. Diwali is next week! Festival time is always a time to indulge in good food and most times the food is too rich and fatty. So why not cook up something sweet and healthy this time. There is nothing like good hearty, homemade meals... Let's start sweet for the season, shall we?! :) Here is an Apple Crisp spiced lightly with nutmeg and cinnamon for warmth and with a good measure of oats to keep the goodness going. This is one of those quick sweet recipes which is high on taste and can be cooked in a jiffy. This recipe was sent to me by my sister and the minute I caught hold of the recipe, I knew what my next blog post was going to be! :)

Ingredients

8 apples or 8 peaches, peeled
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup cold butter

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 13x9 glass pan. Cut fruit into slices (removing pit or seeds) and layer in bottom of pan. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and then cut in butter with a pastry cutter (cut until crumbly). Sprinkle mixture over fruit. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Top should be browned. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream or just as it is.

Simple Baked goodness coming your way. Enjoy my special but unconventional sweet for Diwali this year. Happy Diwali guys.

Recipe Courtesy: Sharon, Amazing sister, Lovely wife and an Excellent mommy to two beautiful kids. Hugs Shan. Love you.

Aval/Beaten Rice Payasam

I'm sure all of you had a great Onam, complete with fun, games, dance and music. Hope you celebrated the festival of togetherness wherever you are, with a grand sadya. For those of you who are yet to prepare a grand Onasadya, here is a mouthwateringly delicious payasam recipe. Super simple and tastes absolutely heavenly.

Onam reminds me of so many good things, Payasam is just one among them. Onam brings back a lot of good memories of monsoon, the special dragon flies called onathumbi, onakkodi (the new dress), athappookkalam (flower carpet), sadya served on banana leaves, swing on the big jack fruit tree that has a seat made of kavalan madal (widest part of coconut leaf stem), family get togethers and all the cousins coming over, the flowers that bloom only during this season; like the purple colored onappoovu and pure white thumbappoovu and of course the ten day long vacation. How much I miss Onam in Kerala! I tried my level best to recreate, at least a part of what I used to get as a kid, at home last year for family and a few cousins with a small sadya; but this year with my baby girl keeping me busy, that just did not happen. The best I could do was prepare this delish payasam.

This is adapted from my mum's recipe. She is an avid cook and a great foodie.

Onam is a day of abundance, color, food and and merry making in Kerala.  I hope to spread that cheer to you with this sweet, gratifying and well prepared payasam. Hope you enjoy making it as much as I did.

Ingredients

3 fistfuls of Beaten Rice/Aval/Poha (I used the Red variety)

1 and 1/2 litres Cow's Milk; boiled

6 to 9 tablespoons Sugar (adjust quantity of sugar as per your preferance)

3 to 4 tablespoons Ghee

5 to 6 pods of Cardamom; skin taken out and seeds powdered

1 to 1 & 1/2 tablespoons Raisins

10 to 15 Cashewnuts

Method

Fry the beaten rice in ghee for a few minutes or till it reduces a little in quantity. Keep aside.

Take a shallow pan and fry both the raisins and cashewnuts separately. Keep aside.

Take a soup pot and pour into it the boiled milk. Add the lightly fried beaten rice into the milk and let it cook. (15 to 20 minutes approx.) At this time, add the sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Cook till the payasam begins to become thick and the color of the payasam turns a light pinkish-brown. Switch off flame and throw in the fried dry fruits. Stir and close for a few minutes. Serve warm.

Delicious Beaten Rice Payasam is ready to be devoured. One taste and you’ll find yourself veering back into the dish for generous spoonfuls. Enjoy! And hey you don't need Onam to enjoy yummy payasam! :)

Recipe Courtesy: My most loving Mumsy!

"Onam Vannallo Ponnonam Vannallo..." - Pal Payasam

Let me start today’s post by wishing all my wonderful readers a Happy and Blessed Onam 2012.

I love Kerala at this time of the year where everyone is dressed in traditional Kerala attire of Kasavu/Kerala sarees, Pattu Paavaada (skirt and blouse), Mundu etc. That lovely blend of cream and gold is a treat to the eye. And today I bring you something sweet, the Pal Payasam.

Payasam or Kheer is essentially a rice pudding, which is a traditional South Indian sweet dish. It is made by boiling rice or broken wheat with milk and sugar, and flavored with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashewnuts, pistachios or almonds. It is typically served during a meal or also consumed alone as a dessert.

Kheer is prepared in festivals, temples, and all special occasions. Payasa or Payasam (used in South India) or payesh (used in the Bengal region) are derived from the Sanskrit word "Payas" which also means "Milk". It is prepared using milk, rice, ghee, sugar/jaggery, khoya. Some also add a little bit of heavy cream or condensed milk to give it a more rich flavor. It is often garnished with slivered almonds, cashews, raisins and pistachios. It is an essential dish in many Hindu feasts and celebrations. While the dish is most often made with rice, it can also be made with other ingredients such as vermicelli.

Rice was known to the Romans, and possibly introduced to Europe as a food crop as early as the 8th or 10th century AD, and so the recipe for the popular English Rice Pudding is believed by some to be descended from Payasam/Kheer.

The South Indian version, payasam or payasa is an integral part of a traditional South Indian meal. The South Indian payasam also makes extensive use of jaggery and coconut milk in place of sugar and milk.

In a Kerala Sadya, payasam is served at the end of the hearty meal. Hot payasam served after a delicious and elaborate feast of rice, sambar and other dishes is relished by all Malayalees. Payasam is often served on the banana leaf itself and eaten along with bananas and pappad - "Pappadam-Pazham-Payasam". Sounds wierd?! Well, that's the right way of eating payasam at an Onam Sadya. In Malayalee or Kerala cuisine, there are several different kinds of payasam that can be prepared from a wide variety of fruits and starch bases, famous ones being: Chakka Pradhaman made from jackfruit pulp, Ada Pradhaman and  Palada Pradhaman made from flat ground rice chips, Parippu Pradhaman made from split green gram, Gothambu Payasam made from broken wheat, Semiya Payasam made from vermicelli, Mambazha Payasam made from fresh ripe mangoes etc...

Ingredients

Red Rice - 1/2 cup (refer notes)

Milk - 5 cups (refer notes)

Sugar - 1 and 1/4 cups

Cardamom (crushed) - 2 (or 2 pinches of cardamom powder)

Method

Wash and clean the red rice. Keep aside.

In a pressure cooker (refer notes), add the washed rice, milk, sugar and crushed cardamom. Mix well. Cover and cook at medium to low flame. (I cooked it for 7 to 8 minutes on medium flame and the rest of the cooking was done on sim) When the steam appears, place the pressure cooker weight on it and cook for about 40 mts (preferably avoiding any whistles) on a low flame.

At the end of 40 minutes, switch off flame and keep closed for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hrs. Open the lid of the pressure cooker and give it a good stir. Check for sugar and add if necessary. (you can add 2 pinches of cardamom powder if you did not add crushed cardamoms before. Combine well.). If you find the payasam too thick, dilute it by adding boiled milk. Serve warm or cold. (I love cold payasam. My hubby and I preferred it cold, but you can always have it warm too.)

This is not the authentic payasam but a quick and easy payasam. The traditional method of preparing payasam involves more time and effort. I love this recipe for it’s simplicity and awesome flavors.

Notes:

1. In case you don't have red rice, you can always use sona masoori or basmati rice in this recipe.

2. If you are using full fat milk, you can add 4 cups of milk + 1 cup of water.

3. Make sure you use a fairly large pressure cooker because the milk tends to ooze out while cooking.

What better way to welcome Maveli this Onam! An absolutely crack-a-lackin Pal Payasam just for you! Enjoy.....Have a great day and year ahead. God bless.

Pineapple and Banana Yoghurt Gelato - Donna Hay Inspired

Music that helped me cook: Chammak Chalo from the film Ra One starring Sharukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

With the holiday season well behind us and under our, slightly tighter belts, it's time to tuck into January's bountiful harvests. And January offers copious varieties of fresh and rich produce, waiting to be turned into cosy and comforting recipes.

Bangalore is cold with chilly winter breeze and what better way to blend in than a nice cooling and refreshing ice cream! My hubby used to be a huge ice cream eater which resulted in me venturing into ice creams too. (well, I'll let you onto a li'l secret, I hated ice cream since I was a kid. I know, I know, that's highly abnormal, but it's true!) Anyway, that didn't last too long because of the tremendous amount of weight we were putting on! But recently I was watching Donna Hay - Fast, Fresh and Simple (yipee we both have the same first names!) and was drawn to this yummy gelato recipe. Donna Hay's original recipe calls for fresh ripe mangoes but since mangoes are a seasonal fruit and will require a few more months for fresh produce, (I'll definitely be trying that soon) I thought why not experiment with fresh juicy pineapple.

Pineapples, in addition to their delicious taste and intoxicating smell, has many nutritional benefits. They contain useful digestive enzymes, several essential minerals, vitamins and fibre. They are also low in calories, rich in carbohydrates, fat free and versatile. Raw, juiced, cooked or canned, pineapples offer tremendous nutritional value.

Anyway, putting aside the heavy duty stuff, they make you feel fresher and by the way, taste fantastic.

I'm sure many of you out there simply adore ice cream and slurp ice cream kilowise. But after a while, the calorie meter definitely puts you off. But what would you say if you made healthy yet tasty yoghurt gelato (low-fat ice cream, you may say) at home?! Sound good? Well I'm sure this one is going to be different. As especially when there are kids and hubbies who enjoy yummy cool ice cream and you really DO want to treat them to ice cream but DO NOT want to feel guilty about the additional sugar they take in. This way you can control what goes into their dessert and have no guilty conscience whatsoever! Of course, you can experiment with different flavours, especially fresh berries like strawberry and such.

Soo... back to the gelato. I chose to do a yoghurt gelato instead of custard to keep with the low-fat, healthy theme. I chopped pineapple and banana and pureed it along with thick yoghurt to add flavour in the ice cream and to accentuate the texture. You could also fold in some pineapple juice for extra flavour.

I'm almost embarassed by how easy this recipe is. All you need is chopped fruit, lovely thick store-bought yoghurt and a blender or a processor. Now, how easy is that?! The recipe itself is quick and a glance at the ingredient list shows it to be a very starightforward and fuss-free dish. Do not let that fool you though. The gelato is simply exquisite and offers a great mix of refined flavours. It's meltingly luscious texture makes your mouth water. This was my very first attempt at making gelato and, I tell you, it was so easy and such a perfect quick dessert or little in between snack.

Ingredients

Bananas (peeled & chopped) - 2

Pineapple (peeled, cleaned & chopped) - 1 (big)

Thick & Natural Yoghurt or Vanilla Yoghurt - 1 cup

Sugar - 3 1/3 tbsp (optional)

Method

Place the banana and pineapple in a sealed container and freeze for 2 to 3 hours or until frozen.

Place the frozen fruit, chilled yoghurt and sugar (optional) in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Serve immediately as a refreshing smoothie or place in a sealed container and freeze. After freezing allow to soften for 5 minutes before serving.

To give the dish that glamorous look, you can top it up with lovely caramelized nuts or praline.

So here is my take on Donna Hay’s Mango & Banana Yoghurt Gelato with a twist of my own.

Notes:

1. You can also use low fat yoghurt instead of full fat or vanilla yoghurt and avoid using sugar.

2. You can also avoid the bananas and go with just chopped pineapples and yoghurt.

Gajar Ka Halwa/Carrot Halwa

I have made chocolate mousse and cake, biscuit puddding and other desserts but I really haven't tried my hand at Indian sweets and thus thought I'd try out something new for a change. Gajar Ka Halwa is something that I love and this was the first time I was making it. And guess what, it was an absolute hit! :) I'm on top of the world, never in my wildest dreams did I think I will be making Gajar Ka Halwa! But the sad part is I did not get a good photograph of this dish. Well, to be honest after I made it, I thought I would share the joy of our happy day with our neighbours and gave everyone a share of what I made and completely forgot about leaving some for a photograph to be put on the blog!!!! :( Sorry for that "not so very nice" photo, will do better next time.

I'm not sure whether this is the authentic or traditional method but this is how I made it with prior online instructions from my lovely sister and expert cook, Sharon and the chef at VahRehVah.com... I found this method easier because the carrot cooks faster in the pressure cooker and thus the whole process takes lesser time. This dish is something you can prepare to satisfy a sudden sweet craving.

So, friends, I thought I will end this week with a sweet note because we will be going home today to spend a few days with family. I may not be able to upload or blog for a few days and I'm definitely going to miss you all and your yummy delights. So everyone, have a pleasant and fun weekend. Happy cooking!

Ingredients

Carrots (grated fine) - 4 cups

Milk - 2 cups

Mawa/Khova - 200 gms (you can also add 2 cups of curdled milk/channe/ricotta cheese)

Sugar - 1 cup (you can add more if you like it sweeter)

Ghee - 2 tsp

Chopped Cashew & Almonds - 1 tbsp each

Golden Raisins - 1 tbsp

Cardamom (skinned & crushed fine) - 2 to 3 (change as per taste)

Method

Roast the chopped cashew, almonds and raisins in a little ghee and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pressure cooker and add the grated carrots into it. Saut'e for 5 to 7 minutes. Now add the milk, mix and seal the pressure cooker with lid. Cook till pressure releases 4 times (4 whistles) and switch off the flame. Remove the lid when the pressure has reduced completely. At this stage, you can either transfer the mixture to a wide, deep non-stick skillet or continue to cook it in the pressure cooker itself. (if your pressure cooker is non-stick, perfect!) Add mawa/khova into it and stir continuously for about 2 to 3 minutes allowing it to cook. Now add the sugar and let it simmer on a low flame. (add sugar only after the carrots have been cooked well) Add the cardamom powder and roasted cashew, almonds and raisins into it and continue to cook till excess liquid evaporates and the mixture starts coming off the pan.

Take this in a serving plate and garnish with slivered almonds or any nuts and raisins. Serve hot or at room temperature.