Cinnamon Toast

If I ever learnt any recipes from my as white as can be roommate, it has to be this one and French toast! This is so simple that I cannot believe I had never had it before she made cinnamon toast for breakfast once. Delicious and quick.

And fatty! SLurp!

Ingredients:

3/4 - 1 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 slice of bread

Method:

1) Melt the butter in a deep dish
2) Add sugar and cinnamon and mix real well
3) Dip bread into this and coat both sides with the mixture
4) Bake bread on the oven at 350C for 5 minutes or toast it on the stove

Variations: Depending on how light or heavy you want it, you can vary the sugar, cinnamon, and butter quantities. technically, sugar and cinnamon should be in equal amounts but if you do not want it overtly sweet, reduce the sugar. Instead of dippin the bread, you can also spread the mixture over the bread if you chose not to melt it.

Fast and sweet!

Published in the Chatpati Chutneys and Snacks category.

Kheer

Kheer. Just the word reminds us of the last time we had one and for me, it has been a very very long time. So today mom and I were just arguing about what to make for dinner and going over all kinds of dishes when out of the blue I said, "Mom, how come you never make kheer anymore."
Mom: "Do you wanna eat it today?"
"You'll make it?"
Mom: "you are leaving tomorrow, so let me make it today itself"
Aaah mom! Sometimes I like living away from home, coz everytime I am home, she makes sure that the menu contains dishes that I love. And ofcourse, to everybody else's dismay, I love what everyone else in the family doesnt like as much :) My little brother is always whining about how she never makes anything HE likes to which she always says, "well you don't live away from home do ya?" :-D

So here is the recipe of Kheer the way my mom makes it, and the way I learnt from her :) Mothers are the greatest!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice (wash and soak for about half an hour)
a little more than 1/2 a gallon of milk
2 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp elaichi/cardamom
slivered almonds (optional)
cut cashews (optional)
a few strands of kesar
some dried raisins (optional)

Method:
1) Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and add the rice to it.
2) Gently roast rice just for a few seconds
3) Add the milk to it and cook it at medium heat till the rice is done. It is okay for the milk to boil a little but make sure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan
4) Once the rice has puffed up and is tender and cooked, add the sugar, elaichi, almonds, cashews, and kesar
5) Stir for about 10-15 minutes for the flavors to catch on.
6) Garnish with a few strands of kesar

Serve warm, cold, or any way you want! Chilled is best.

Variations: Lots! You can pretty much customize your kheer any way you want! You can skip all the other dry fruits and just add almonds! A popular fav in my family is adding pistachios to the kheer. Any amount of dry fruits can be added to it as well. There are several people who also add bread to it! Don't ask me why or what it tastes like coz I haven't had the guts to try that till now! Someday!

I like my kheer chilled! Makes for great dessert and is a surefire heart-winner.

Published in the Dessers, Drink, Sweets category.

Ghee

Ever since I have understood cooking, I have seen my mom make ghee at home. I do not remember anybody ever buying ghee for our home kitchen. When we were in India, ma used to make it with malai scraped off the milk. It was pretty complicated and I am yet to master that method. However, after moving to the US, she uses unsalted butter. Ricky, you mentioned ghee in one of your comments and that you had no means of getting it. Here is a recipe to make ghee! I also searched a bunch of recipes online and they are pretty close to how my ma makes it.

Ingredients:
Unsalted butter and a heavy bottomed pan

Method:
1) Add butter to the pan and bring it to a boil at medium to high heat.
2) Then turn the heat on low and leave the butter on till it starts forming a foam like top layer. do not stir too often but make sure it does not stick to the bottom as well.
3) After a while, when ghee is almost done little light brown solid butter masses will start forming at the bottom. I call these ghee residue. B
4) A nutty ghee-like aroma can also be noticed and at this time a second layer of foam should have also formed.
5) Take the foam layer of lightly without getting too much of the ghee off.
6) Drain the ghee in a bottle with a cloth or strainer to separate the residue from the ghee.
7) Store in a container at room temperature

Making ghee for the first time can be tricky. My first time wasn't that great, but slowly you get the hang of it when you start recognizing the aroma and knowing its ready! Its full blown fat but it sure is yummy!

Published in the All Else category.

Masala Puri

This is a very common, quick snack in our home. Ma makes it and just puts them in a box and ofcourse they disappear as quickly as they were made.

Ingredients:

1 cup atta (wheat flour)
1 table spoon oil
3-4 tsps chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 -11/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp ground cumin
4-5 tsps ajwain (carom)
salt to taste
water to knead dough

kadhai and oil to fry puris in.


Method:

1) Mix all ingredients and knead in a dough. Not too stiff and not too soft. Just soft enough to squeeze it with your finger and stiff enough to not let it stick to your finger.
2) Heat oil in a pan at medium to low heat for frying.
3) Roll out little round puris.
4) Fry at medium to high heat.
5) Done!

Yes its that easy.

Variations: When you roll out the puris, you can make tiny slits in the rolled out dough with a knife. This will give it a crispy chip-like texture. The more slits you make, the crispier it turns out. The soft texture puris can be matched up with pickles, onions, and even subzis while the crispier version can be munched anytime, anywhere!

Published in the Garvi Gujarat and Chatpati Chutneys and Snacks category.