Silky Smooth Creme Caramel Recipe

When I was growing up, my mom used to make creme caramel a.k,a caramel custard pudding. This is one of my cherished memories because this is one of the most delicious dessert yet one of the simplest. The silky-smooth-melt in your mouth texture is just divine, 

   There are different ways of making creme caramel. For this recipe I used condensed milk.
                             

Ingredients

For the Caramel

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

For the Custard

1 can condensed milk

3 eggs

325 ml milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 pinches of salt

Method

Butter the ramekins and keep aside

Making the caramel will take only about 5 -6 minutes.In a heavy bottom pan, melt the sugar and butter on medium high heat. You can brush the sides of the pan  as it prevents the sugar from crystallizing. 

When you see the color changing to orange-brown on the side of the pan, give the pan a swirl. In seconds, you will see the entire sugar syrup turn orange-brown.

 Quickly and 'CAREFULLY' pour the caramel syrup into the ramekins,

Now, in a blender mix the condensed milk, milk, eggs and vanilla essence for not more than a minute,

Pour the custard through a strainer into the ramekins

Carefully cover each ramekin with aluminium foil*. This is a very important step that you should not avoid. Otherwise you will end up having tough and grainy creme caramels instead of soft- smooth -melt in your mouth creme caramels.

You can either steam this for 20 minutes or bake this for 25 minutes at 325 degrees on a water bath. I prefer the steaming method because that's how my mom makes caramel pudding.

If you don't cover the ramekins with an aluminium foil properly you will end up getting  a creme caramel on the right side in the picture below. We want the left hand side one! 

Cool this in the fridge for 2 hours. To unmould, run the knife around of each ramekins and invert onto the serving plate, gently shaking our creme caramels to release from the bottom of the ramekins. You can tap on the bottom of the ramekins. I did!

And this happend!

And it kept on happening

Yumm,..Silky smooth..

It never fails! Try it!

  

                                                           HAPpY COOKiNG!

Chicken Soup For Winter

                                   When I fell sick last week the only thing that I wanted to have was hot soup. There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of hot soup when you are sick especially during winter.This is a simple recipe you can follow if you have chicken stock at home

. Let me dive straight into the recipe.

Ingredients:

2.5 cups chicken stock(I used home made)

1 chicken breast

1/2 of a carrot shaved into ribbons

few leaves of spinach

salt & white pepper powder

Method

Boil the chicken stock along with the carrot ribbons and chicken breast.

After 7 minutes take out the chicken breast and shred the flesh. Put off the stove and throw in the spinach leaves. The spinach will cook in that heat. Serve the shredded chicken into the soup bowl and pour the soup over it. Add salt and pepper if required. I didn't have to add lots because I had already added salt and pepper in the stock.

HAPPY COOKING!

Spicy Chicken Curry Recipe

After I got married I have asked myself so many times 'Who is a better cook-Ammi(my mom) or Mom(my mom in law)?'. Till this date I don't know the answer of that question. They both are really good. My point is I didn't know how to cook at all when I got married - not even know how to cook rice. And every time I cook I would get so disappointed with myself and my husband would sweetly say 'Why don't we go out and eat babe'. Mom and Ammi have helped me so much by giving me their recipes. This is one of them.

This Chicken Curry is one of our favorites. Its very rich with the almond paste and cream-goes really well with rice or rotis. I have made this for guests and they have loved it too.  For an Indian, this curry would be medium spicy, However, for others this is 'HOT'. Sadly, don't think these pictures do justice to the color of this curry. Ya Ya you are right! I need to take some photography lessons. 

\\

Ingredients

1 kg chicken

1 cup curd

1 tsp shah jeera or caraway seeds

whole spices(1' cinnamon, 3 cloves,1 star aniseed, 1 cardamom,1 bayleaf) 

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp chopped garlic 

1 tbsp chopped ginger

4 green chillies

1 onion

4 heaped tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

4 tbsp almond paste made from 50g  of almonds

1/4 cup tomato paste

 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

3/4 tsp garam masala

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup cream 

salt and pepper to taste

Merthod

Marinate the chicken in curd and 1 tsp salt for a minimum of half an hour. Keep this aside.

Microwave 50g of almond in 4 tbsp water for 4 mins on high. Make this into a paste in a blender.

Chop the onions, ginger and garlic. Slice the green chillies. Chop the coriander leaves and keep aside. At this point you can do all the other prep work like measuring the ingredients.

 When the marination time is over, heat butter in a heavy bottom pan. When the butter melts add the shah jeera and the whole spices.Let the spices infuse into the butter. After 20 seconds on medium high heat add chopped ginger and garlic. When the colour starts to change add the chopped onion and sliced chilies. When chopped onion turns brown, add turmeric powder and chilli powder. Mis this well for 10 seconds add the tomato paste. 

                                                       

Mix well and add half of the almond paste,

                                      

To this add add the marinated chicken. 

Cook this covered for 15 minutes. Do not add water into this as the chicken will release water.

After 15 minutes, add hot chicken stock, coriander leaves, garam masala and the rest of the almond paste. Mix well and check for salt and pepper. Cook this again covered for another 15 minutes.

Before serving add cream and give it a boil.And VOILA! 

Garnish it with coriander leaves or friend onions.

HAPPY COOKING!

December 2014 Favourites

i) My favorite dish this month - French Onion Soup By Julia Child

Julia Child is one of my absolute favorite. I prefer  watching 'The French Chef' which was premiered in 1963 than some of the modern cookery shows. Her passion for french cooking is so clear from her TV shows. I own one of her books (which was gifted to me by my husband),Mastering the Art of French Cooking which was beautifully written. I had wanted this book for so long and I am so happy I have it now. I remember watching one of those episodes where Julia Child cried tasting Nancy Silverton's Creme Fraiche Custard Brioche Tart. Those episodes about roast a chicken and cook lobster- WOW!

Fact: Julia did not discover her passion for French cuisine until she was 36 years old. There is no age limit for learning I guess!

French onion Soup

It took 2 days for me to make this dish. Was it worth all the trouble! YES. I will post the recipe of this when I perfect this dish.

ii) My favorite drink this month - Calicut Notebook's Green Fire
 If you are an Indian living in the UAE you would have definitely heard about Calicut Notebook. This is a famous Indian restaurant which offers AMAZING  Kerala cuisine. The restaurant was so packed even at 11:30 pm that we had to wait for a table for two. The price for this drink was AED 10. Mindblowing! Orange juice with red chillies and julienned ginger garnished with cilantro. Do I need to say more?

Oh Oh.. We even had their 'Kottayam sherry fish curry'- finger licking good- you must give these a try!

iii)What I have been reading this month Martha Stewart's Cooking Classs

I got this book as Christmas gift from my husband (Isn't he amazing?. I love this book. Its clear and the picture are beautiful. It has a fresh touch to it. I made bolognese sauce Martha Stewarts style and it was delicious.
You can get her books in book stores or on Amazon.

iv) My favorite website this month -  laurainthekitchen.com

.Laura Vitale is a youtube celebrity and recently started with her television show called Simply Laura. Love love love watching her videos on her youtube channel. I have made many of her recipes and\ never been disappointed, Genius I say! And a figure of  success!

Healthy Summer Couscous Salad Recipe

Couscous is our family favorite. So easy to make and so darn easy! In my previous post I had blogged about how to cook couscous

Ingredients for salad

I cup couscous cooked in 2 cups water and salt

1 Tomato chopped

1 Bell pepper diced

1 Cucumber diced

A quarter of Onion chopped

Half cup Cilantro chopped 

Half cup Olives

Ingredients for the vinaigrette

Lemon  juice from half of a lemon

Olive oil - double the portion of lime juice

Ground pepper 

Hot sauce few drops

Salt

Method

Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and hot sauce with a whisk or fork.Another option is to shake all the ingredients in a a bottle really well. You can see the colour change.

 Pour this onto the veggies. Mix well.Mix the couscous and veggies together and serve

Gorgeous Lemon Bars (A Laura Vitale Recipe)

If you want to make something that would tickle your taste buds, try these GORGEOUS lemon bars. You wont be disappointed. 

When guests were coming home yesterday I made this 'yummy custardy lemony' lemons bars. This turned out so good that I cant stop myself from having these bad boys. This is one of my favorite Laura Vitale recipes and I have made these SOOO many times . Her recipes are so easy to make and turns awesome whenever I make. Thank you Laura.  

Ingredients

Step1:- Crust

2 cups Flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cuu unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius and line the pan with an aluminium foil

Now, combine all the above ingredients with a wooden spoon till it forms a soft dough. Do not overmix this. This willl not take more than 2 minutes. pres

Press the dough to the botteom of the pan. Bake this for 20 minutes and cool.

Step 2:- Filling

1 can condensed milk

4 eggs

Fresh lemon juice -a little less than 1/4th cup

Zest of half an orange*

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp flour

Mix all the above ingredients. Pour this mixture onto the baked crust and bake for another 30mins. Cool this in the fridge before you cut this into bars and serve. Dust some powdered sugar on top for a frosty look.

*Laura Vitale uses zest of a lemon. However, I used orange since I had oranges at home and I   thought this would give lemon bar a more subtle citrus flavour. Also, I did not use yellow food colour since the eggs I bought had nice orange yolks.

Here is Laura Vitale's video for lemon bars:-

http://youtu.be/BEwwiZfg6Tg

Happy Cooking! :)

Chocolate Stuffed Croissant French Toast

My eyes got hooked on of those yesterday and I don't regret it. A packet of chocolate stuffed croissant. Here is what I ended up making! 

Ingredients

2 chocolate stuffed croissants(i used store brought the reason being I dont know how to make fresh ones by myself)

3/4th cup full fat milk

1 egg

1 tbsp butter

A pinch or two cinnamon powder

Vanilla essence 1/2 tsp

A big dollop of butter

Honey or maple syrup(optional)

Fresh fruits, I suggest strawberries(optional)

Whipped cream(optional)

Method

In a bowl, crack an egg and mix well with milk, vanilla essence and cinnamon powder. Soak the croissants in the egg mixture for 3-5 minutes. The croissants should become soft and dense.

In a pan heat melt the butter. 

When the butter is hot, keep the croissants in the pan with care. Cook both sides two minutes each on low heat. 

Serve this goodness on a plate with strawberries, whipped cream and maple syrup. I did not have have any of these so I used some honey.

Trust  me, this was so good.. Can you see the melted choclate insideBut trust me, this was so good.. Can you see the melted choclate inside..

Yumm!!

Simple Cheese Omelette

Have you ever craved for Omelette. I have! Wierd? Yes, I am :)

Ingredients :

2 eggs

shredded or slices of cheddar cheese as much as you want

chopped herbs of your choice. I used cilantro

1 tbsp milk and 1 tbsp water

salt and pepper

1 tbsp butter

Method :-

Heat a pan with a tbsp of butter. Please make sure the pan is on medium low. While the butter is melting crack two eggs into a bowl and mix with all d other ingredients except cheese.

When the butter is frothy, pour the egg mixture into the hot pan. Take a spatula and start pushing the edges of the omelette to the center. Fill the gap with the liquid, This allows for an almost even cooking and gives the omelette a good texture.

Now place the cheese at the center of the omelette. 

Wait for a minute and you can see the cheese starting to melt. 

When this happens fold the omelette  and serve!

Soft and fluffy!