For the Bloggeraid Cookbook....

Poverty is a very distressing situation and to see children suffer from it is even more distressing. The situation worsens with every passing day and it is hard not to give it a thought.

Val, Ivy and Giz, the three lovely souls behind Bloggeraid have announced its largest fundraiser ever. And what might that be? It is by publishing a cookbook and by contributing 100% of the sales of the cookbook towards School Meals, a program of The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations frontline agency.

My little contribution to the cause is a recipe for Pickled Dates.

Pickle for me has become a necessity. It has enhanced many a bland meals for me. Bread and pickle does serve me a meal when I'm home alone or am lazy to cook something just for myself. This pickle of dates is something I really enjoy especially with Biriyani.

And yes there is no recipe at this moment.. You have wait until the book is published....

Caramel Tartlets...

I was paired with Happy Cook who blogs at My Kitchen Treasures for Taste & Create, an event hosted by Nicole.Her place is genuinely a treasure trove. It is hard to pick just one to make. I first hit her dessert label and there was so much to choose from. I chose Caramel Tarts because they are my favourite next only to lemon tarts. She had adapted it from here.

The recipe is here.


The only changes that I made were the use of toasted cashewnuts and golden raisins. Normally when I make tartlet fillings, they do not set very well. These set well, were not too sweet and were really really delicious. Were perfect as desserts1

A Lasagna for the Daring Bakers

This is my Fifteenth challenge with the Daring Bakers and it has been a good journey so far. I have baked some goodies that I wouldn't have otherwise.This was one among the fascinating ones.

The Daring Bakers did Lasagne this month. Chosen by hosts from three different continents, it was an apt challenge for me. The chosen recipe was Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (published by William Morrow and Company Inc., 1992).


A lasagna is a dish that contains flat pasta baked with layers of sauce and meat/veg and cheese fillings. What was splendid about this challenge was making our own pasta.The recipe for the pasta was a Spinach Egg Pasta. The dough was a breeze to knead. My vegetable vendor brings fresh spinach home every morning, so the procuring was easy. I had a tough time rolling it out into thin sheets becaue it would stick to the counter. So I let it rest for a few secs on the counter and then removed it to hang it to dry. I had a tough time keeping my little one from playing with the sheets. If she found the kitchen free of my presence she would make sure she would be playing with the sheets. I had instances of several torn and crumpled sheets!!!


The recipe for the meat ragu sauce is froma trusted recipe that I often use from the book, Family Favourites: Hearty Casseroles, Roasts, Pies and Puddings.

• 125 g Bacon Rashers, Rind removed
• 15 g Butter
• 1 Onion, Chopped
• 1 Carrot, Sliced
• 1 Stick of Celery, Sliced
• 1 Clove Garlic, Crushed
• 375g Minced Beef
• 125g Chicken Livers, Chopped
• 500g Tomatoes, Chopped
• 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• 1 Cup Water
• 1/2 tsp Dried Oregan or Basil
• Salt and Pepper
• A pinch of Nutmeg

Cut the bacon into small bits and brown them in butter. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook on gentle heat for a few minutes.Add the beef and cook until browned. Add the chopped livers and cook for a few minutes.Add the tomatoes, tomato paste,water and the herbs. Cover and cook until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.


The recipe for the Bechamel Sauce was from the same book.

• 300 ml Milk
• 45 Butter
• 2 Tbsps AP Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• a pinch of pepper
• a pinch of nutmeg

Bring the milk to simmer and set aside.
Melt butter over low heat and stir in the flour. Cook for a minute but ensure you do not brown it.
Remove from the heat and add the warm milk a little at a time, stirring constantly. When half the quantity of milk is added, return the pan to heat and add the remaining milk stirring constantly.
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer for 10 minutes. Just before you use the sauce, add in the remaining butter.

I used a round deep glass dish. So I cut the pasta into sizes to fit the dish. It made a delicious dinner. Until now a lasagna always left this overdose of a cheesy aftertaste but this was otherwise. Eventhough the spinach were chopped bits, it did not dominate. I sprinkled cheddar cheese on the inner layer while the top had a generous layer of mozzarella cheese over the Bechamel sauce which resulted in a gooey saucy top.

A really really good lasagna and the hand made pastas were so much better than the dried store-bought pastas. A lot of work but worth it.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

For the challenge recipe visit Mary, Melinda or Enza

My DB Challenges so far:

• 1. Tender Potato Bread
• 2.Yule Log
• 3.Lemon Meringue Pie
• 4.French Bread
• 5.A perfect Party Cake
• 6.Cheesecake Pops
• 7.An Opera Cake
• 8.Danish Braid
• 9.Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream
• 10.Chocolate Eclairs
• 11.Lavash Crackers
• 12.Pizza Napoletana
• 13.Tuiles
• 14.Chocolate Valentino

A Caesar Salad and Click.Wood

Cinnamon is one amongst my many favourite spices. This fragrant spice is my entry for Click:Wood.

I was in denial until recntly that I could have a 1 pot meal of just a salad. For me, now a salad adds zest to every meal. The reason being that it is just until recently that I realized that there is more to a salad than just tossing some greens, onions and tomatoes. One salad that changed all this is the Caesar Salad. I make this quite often .

This salad basically contains lettuce leaves, bread croutons, egg and a dressing.The recipe is from Nigella's show Nigella Bites. She had used Potato Croutons while I used Bread. The amount is what I put together. So feel free to tweak it.

For the Croutons

• 5 Slices of Bread
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• Oil-4 Tbsps

Trim the bread crusts and cut them into bite sized pieces. Crush the garlic cloves and add them the oil with required amount of salt and mix them well. Toss the bread in this ensuring that it is coated well. Bake these until browned.

For the Salad

• Lettuce- 3 Heads, washed, dried.
• Eggs-2
• Parmesan Cheese-2/3 of a cup
• Lemon Juice-2 tsp
• 2 Garlic cloves-crushed
• Worcestershire Sauce-2 tsps
• Mustard Paste-2tsps
• Olive Oil-4Tbsps
• Salt to taste

Boil the egg for about 45 secs. Let it cool. Mix everything else except for the olive oil. Add the eggs and whisk them in well. Whisk in the oil gradually.

In a large bowl, tear the lettuce leves into bite-sized pieces. Pour 1/2 the amount of the dressing and toss the leaves. Pour in the remaining dressing followed by the croutons. Sprinkle grated cheese and serve.

The store sells Caesar Salad dressings now but why buy it when you can make it at home. After all anything and everything that is homemade is always the best.

Chambakka/Water Apple Jelly

During a recent trip to the capital city of Kerala, the sight you see below is what I faced every time I looked out from the house.

They were in full bloom, yet to ripen though. In the native language of Kerala, it is referred to as a chambakka. It is a fruit that is bell shaped and its taste varies from sour to mildly sweet.Usually it is plucked off the tree by children and if any left is made into preserve/jams or squashes. I had to satisfy myself by just looking at this sight. A week later, I received a parcel containing the very same fruits that had ripened.

Isn't the colour just amazing?

I found a recipe in Recipes for all Occasions, Part 2 by Mrs. BF Varughese. The recipe was for Chambakka Jelly.

What you need are just three ingredients.

1. 1. Ripe Chambakkas/Water Apples- About 40 to 50
2. 2.Sugar-1 Cup
3. 3. Water-2 Cups

Slice the fruits into two and deseed and remove the brown fibers.

Boil the sliced fruits with water until the quantity of water reduces to almost half. Strain it. Simmer the juice with the sugar until it reaches a consistency where when you spoon a drop on a plate, it sets. Transfer to a bottle. This recipe makes 3/4 of a cup.

I had mine on bread while my daughter loved it on its own. She said it tastes like Cotton Candy!!!

This pink water apple jelly is my entry to FIC:Pink.

A Pasta Bake....

Fettuccine for reasons I still am to figure out is my favourite shape among all the pasta shapes. Probably because they absorb the sauces much more than the other shapes. I normally serve them drenched in sauce. But this time, I decided to make a layered fettuccine bake with a layer of a paneer mixture sandwiched between layers of fettuccine.

Here's what you need:

Fettuccine- 500g (you could use any pasta)
Grated Paneer-3Cups
Onion-2 medium or 1 big chopped finely
Tomatoes-about 10 pureed
Lime Juice-1 and a 1/2 tsp
Butter-3 Tbsp
Sugar-1 tbsp
Cheddar Cheese-1 cup grated
Red Chilli Powder-1 tsp
Pepper and Salt as per taste

Cook Fettuccine Al Dente. Drain and set aside.

Saute the cchopped onions in butter. Add in the grated paneer, lime juice, pepper and salt. Stir them until well combined and set this aside as well.

Boil the tomato puree with salt, chilli powder and sugar until a sauce of thick consistency is obtained.

Grease an oven-proof dish. Spread the sauce at the base. Place half the quantity of pasta as the next layer. Sprinkle some cheese and then layer the paneer mixture. Cover this with the remaining pasta followed by the sauce and finally the cheese.

Bake at a low temperature for half an hour to result in a gooey melted cheese and tomato coated pasta with paneer bits. This moist bake was an ideal dinner and an experience that was very special the reason being the result of an experimentation being really good.

This was a trial and yielded a good result and hence is an apt entry here.

This pasta also makes it entry to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Pam this week.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes especially when they are roasted in a oven is a winner with me. A simple dish with plenty of desirable flavours is what this offers. I have far too many recipes from all possible sources and this is something tweaked from several a many recipes to suit my palate. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside they made a nice accompaniment to Grilled Chicken.

What I used for this were:

Potaoes-3, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces. (You could also use baby poatoes)
Olive Oil-100ml
2 tbsp-minced garlic (add or reduce according to taste)
a tsp each of dried herbs ( I used rosemary, thyme, basil and parsley)
chilli flakes for the heat factor
salt and pepper as desired

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Prick the potatoes with a fork for the flavours to seep in.

Add all the ingredients except the potaoes ina bowl and mix them in well. Stir in the poatoes and coat them well with the mixture.

Lay them on a roasting pan ina single layer. Drizzle with olive oil if desired and roast them. Mine was done in about 15 mins.

Potatoes coated with olive oil roasted with herbs is a satisfying dish that you will make over and over again.