Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

 Oven-roasted tomatoes have an intense fresh flavor and I think this is the perfect way to preserve tomatoes. They are excellent in sandwiches, salads and pasta.Give it a try!

  

It’s up to you if you want to cut out the stems before roasting or not.Also, you can use garlic, herbs(thyme,basil,oregano or rosemary) or both to flavor the tomatoes.

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes, halved crosswise

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Cracked black pepper and coarse salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degree Celsius. Line the baking tray with a parchment paper or aluminium foil. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and spread them in a single layer, cut-side up.

 Place the slices of garlic on the tomatoes, drizzle extra virgin olive oil and evenly sprinkle salt and pepper. The other way of doing this is tossing the tomatoes in a bowl with olive oil, garlic and seasonings.

Pop the tray in the the oven and let the tomatoes roast for around 2 hours. The tomatoes are done when they are shrunken, moist and chewy 

Remove the tray from the oven and let it cool before storing

You can keep this in the refrigerator in a covered container for 1 week and freeze up to 6 months. Give it a try!

Happy Cooking!

Homemade Caramel Sauce

It's so easy and delicious. Stir a tablespoon or two caramel sauce into hot coffee, drizzle some on top of your pancakes, muffins or ice cream,use as a dip for  fruits or drizzle over pies and cheesecakes. Its divine. There are two methods of making caramel sauce- wet and dry. In wet method, you melt the sugar with water in it. While in dry method you caramelize the sugar in the pan first and add the wet ingredients,

Some people are scared of making caramel sauce since it involves melting sugar. But you don't need to be if you are doing it right.

First of all, you don't need any fancy equipment. If you have a good old deep saucepan and a long wooden spoon you are all set. Its best to use a light colored pan(like steel or ceramic) but if you are like me it doesn't matter which pan you use. Secondly, caramel sauce is very forgiving when it comes to the ingredients. You can make a beautiful caramel sauce with white, brown sugar or with  both, with 10g butter or 100g butter, little or more cream, no vanilla or no salt at all. It all depends on what you want. If you are using white sugar and brown sugar, caramelize the white sugar first and add the brown sugar along with butter and cream. If you use very little fat or no fat at all, your caramel sauce will be brittle or hard.

According to Dan Leopard's article on The Guardian,  dark caramel goes well with light fruits like apple and oranges, golden caramel goes well with dark fruits like figs and medium colored caramel goes well with medium flavors like milk chocolate. But there are no set rules to this.

If you toast some nuts and add to this  it becomes praline or add a little sea salt to this and it becomes salted caramel sauce.

Lastly, by no means you should let your skin touch the sugar or the caramel sauce when its hot. The boiling point of sugar is so high that you don't wanna mess with this.

 Ingredients

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup cream

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

A pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla essence 

Method 

Add sugar in a saucepan. Start with an even layer

Let it melt on a low heat. Do not stir with a a
 spoon, only SWIRL the pan. But if you are concerned if the sugar will get burnt (which is not likely to happen if you are doing this step on low heat) with the wooden spoon push the sugar at the edge to the center. The sugar clumps when you do this. So make sure that the sugar has completely melted before you go to the next step.

 After the sugar has melted (PAY ATTENTION) the color changes fast at this point. Stir well. Some say golden is divine, some say amber gold and the other say reddish brown but no one says black or burnt.

FYI --> If you are scared of hot molten sugar put your mittens on. Now turn the heat to medium high.

Add the brown sugar, butter and cream. Be very careful because it will sizzle and splutter. 

Add vanilla essence and salt.

Put off the heat and keep stirring and you end up getting this smooth and beautiful caramel sauce. 

 Allow it to cool

The difference between caramel sauce and toffee sauce is that toffee sauce is only cooked to the point that the sugar in it melts, at which point it becomes usable. Caramel sauce is cooked well beyond the melting stage, through all the various candy phases until the sugar molecules themselves start to break into pieces. It’s those pieces that give caramel its rich flavors and amber-brown color. Toffee sauce wouldn't have much of a color if it wasn't for the fact that it’s made with brown sugar

 To store, keep refrigerated in an air-tight container. To warm, place in the microwave for 30 seconds to heat through.

Happy Cooking!

How to cook Basmati Rice(Absorption Method)

 When I got married to the love of my life, I didn't even know how to cook rice. Do I need to add salt? Do I need to soak the rice? How long does it need to be cooked? More importantly, how do I cook the rice? Oh GOSH! The questions in my mind were endless and I had thought I knew all about cooking. We eat a lot of steaming hot rice at home. My husband prefers rice to rotis. Our favourite is basmati rice. The difference in the way my mom cooked rice and my mom in law cooked rice is that my mom uses brown rice and my mom in law uses sona masoori rice. However, for certain  rice dishes, on special days and when guests come both of them only use basmati rice.

Basmati rice is a long grain rice which has a unique fragrance. Most of the time whole spices(cloves, cardamom,cinnamon etc..) and herbs or lemon juice are added to it while cooking rice for aroma. When its cooked it should be soft and fluffy with each grain separate yet not mushy. It should look like white long pearl. You can have with a simple dal or you can make a rich  biriyani with it. I use absorption method to cook rice at home and the same method is used for cooking jasmine rice and sona masoori rice. Always use the best quality rice you can afford, I have been using India Gate for years.

Ingredients:-

2 cup Basmati Rice

3.5 cups Water 

2 pinches Salt 

A clove, cardamom and cinnamon piece

1 tsp ghee (optional)

Method:-

Wash the rice with room temperature clean water till d water starts getting clear. Soak the rice for 30 minutes in room temperature water. This helps in elongating the rice,

In a pot mix the water, ghee, spices and salt and bring to a boil.(If you have not soaked the rice, for 2 cups rice use 4 cups water). Add the rice and bring the water back to boil Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and cook for 15 minutes on low heat. If the lid is not tight enough use an aluminium foil to seal the pan. After 15 minutes put off the heat and let it rest for another 5 minutes, 

Serve the rice hot with dal or chicken curry. 

Happy Cooking!

How to make Chicken Stock (White & Brown)

Use this flavorful chicken stock while preparing soups, rice, stuffing or gravies.. You won't be disappointed.

To make a good soup or stew you need to have a good stock. To make a good stock you need to have good ingredients which results in good flavor. By good ingredients I mean chicken wings, necks, bones etc which are not very inexpensive.(You can even use left over roasted chicken from last night)

If you want a clear stock or white stock merely simmer the ingredients in water with the aromatics, You do not need to roast them. This is best for soups and sauces. If you want brown stock, roast the meat in the pan on the stove or in the oven along with the vegetables, This has a deeper color with a caramelized flavor to it. This is best for stews and braises.

This is how I make chicken stock at home

RECIPE FOR WHITE STOCK

Ingredients

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1 onion

2 bay leaves

Quarter cup cilantro or parsley

1 tsp Rosemary

1 tsp Pepper corns 

2 cans store bought chicken broth(optional, for more flavor)

salt

Method

Put all the ingredients in a pot of cold water. Bring it to boil and put the flame back on simmer. Let this simmer for a good 90 minutes.  Skim it frequently to prevent the stock from getting cloudy,Keep adding water when the quantity of water is getting low.

 Strain the stock using a sieve or colander and remove the solid part. Let this cool down and skim off the fat which forms on top. 

Another option is to pressure cook this on a high heat till 1 whistle. Continue on low heat for 30 minutes. Put off the flame and let it rest for another 20 minutes without opening the lid.

Have you heard that the measure of a good cook is how well he or she can make a simple soup?

Well. you can with this stock!

RECIPE FOR BROWN STOCK

Ingredients

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1 onion

Ginger and garlic sliced 1 tbsp each

2 bay leaves

Quarter cup cilantro(optional)

1 tsp Rosemary

 1 tsp I used pepper powder

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tsp olive oil

salt

Method

In a heavy bottom pan, heat the oil and saute ginger, garlic, chicken, carrot and celery for 2 minutes or till browned.

Add 2 litres of water(room temperature). Add bay leaves, pepper and other aromatics you are using.

Bring to a boil on high flame. Add salt and soy sauce. Now turn down the heat and let it simmer. Bubbles should just gently break the surface. Keep adding water when the quantity of water is getting low.

 Skim it frequently to prevent the stock from getting cloudy. Cook this for 1 to 2 hours  This will give you deep colored stock, 

Strain the stock using a sieve or colander and remove the solid part. Let this cool down and skim off the fat which forms on top.

 Store these in different containers and freeze them. Remove the fat on top before use, This can store for few months,

HAPPY COOKING!