Vanilla Ice Cream

Ice creams are my first love. I love ice creams so much that I can wake up at 2 AM for this awesomely delicious frozen treat. Never imagined as a kid that one day I would making my own and loving them so much. When I started making bread at home, Mr. Parveez couldn’t bear to see his dear wife struggle with the dough to make it perfect for the bread and got me a Kitchen aid dough maker. Now I am so lazy that even if I have make chapati dough, I use my Kitchen Aid.

My better half, Mr. Parveez loves shopping for his wife. I know, I am really fortunate. So, he love shopping for add ons too. Like when he buys me a dress, he would look around to see if there is a jewelry piece that might look great or a pair of shoes. He kind of does something similar with Kitchen gadgets as well. The appliance was originally bought for mixing, whisking and kneading. The add ons brought in attachments for salad chopping, meat grinder and an ice cream maker.

Mr. Parveez and I loved having the frozen desert every night. I don’t remember a single night not enjoying the yummy treat while I was pregnant. In fact, I ate my hubby’s share too and the poor guy never complained. And, then came the kids loving the treat as much as us.  The boys were always branching out to whatever new flavor was at the our favorite ice cream store. So when I got my first ice cream maker, I knew I could push my frozen treat boundaries even further and experiment my heart out. To start with, Vanilla had to be the base. I just had to make sure that I knew the basics correctly.

My first try with the vanilla Ice cream was something with eggs. Now, I am not too sure ho many people enjoy vanilla ice cream with eggs, but being from India and eating ice creams that are basically vegetarian, and I could smell the eggs in my ice cream and I wasn’t too happy with experiment.

I then started out with a simpler vanilla ice cream recipe, egg less. Its made with heavy cream and sugar. You can substitute the Heavy cream with milk if you are calorie conscious, but I recommend going all out, after all its a dessert.

Hot Milk Cake

Cakes are an integral part of our life. No matter which community, which country you belong to, cakes make a special place in our celebrations. I am not sure if I have mentioned in any of my earlier cake posts, but I belong to a house where baking kind of never existed. My mom never baked and always preferred the store bought cakes.

There was a local bakery that made super delicious cherry cake and Kaju cakes, which was very close to some branded cakes. We kind of always liked the locally made cakes better than the branded ones, reason was always the surety of freshness and not consuming preservatives. The bakery also made some wonderful plum cake for the month of December, making it a Christmas and New Year special. I have always loved all of them.

I admired some of my friends moms who would bake cakes at home. I still remember a friend whose Mom would bake cake for her birthday and she actually baked using a pressure cooker. As much as a lot of friends  felt that it is a money saving way, I always  felt that it added a very personal touch to the celebration. I always loved the idea of home baking. I believe they are fresh and taste delicious when warm with tea or coffee.

Bangalore has some lovely Iyengar bakeries and the cookies and cakes, also the buns that they make are equally scrumptious. After I got married, I was just in love with the wonderful goodies Mr. Parveez introduced me to. The wide variety offers everything for every taste bud and I have never met a person who has tried products made in those bakeries and not loved them. Hot Milk Cake happens to be one such recipe. Soft, scrumptious, not too sweet and just very airy and light. Its a perfect tea time snack.

So, With all love I have for home baked cakes, after trying the simpler cake, it was time for me to take a second step and nothing would be better then trying out one of the best recipes from an Indian bakery. And that how the Hot Milk Cake made its way to my Dastarkhaan.

The recipe is simple. Please follow the notes too before you start trying it out. There are ingredients that can be used for enhancing flavors but, using them would modify the recipe. Once you master this skill, please feel free to contact me for recipe modifications.

Fried Apple Pie

Apple pie is lovely all year round, but specially during winters, warm apple pies for breakfast or for that evening snack with a cup of coffee is my absolute favorite. Have you ever been for Apple picking in Fall? Its a pretty fun thing to do with your family and a popular one too, in many European countries and in United States.

Usually the farm for apple picking has a few activities for kids too, petting zoo and painting crafts being few among them. Another good part that I enjoy about Apple picking is that since its Fall, they always have little Pumpkin patches as well, which of course for people like me solves another purpose of picking a nice pumpkin for Fall decoration. So, basically its like killing 2 birds with one stone. A lot these places also have pumpkin carving which i believe is great for kids and adults, a pumpkin and a little fee is all you need to learn the basic carving skills.

Getting back to the story of the wonderful apples. So, all these farms also have a bakery that sells wonderful banana breads, pumpkin pies, cakes and Apple pie. So, once at one of our favorite farms, I came across a fried apple pie. I had to read the name again since I believed all the “pies” are always baked and have apples cooked like a thick puree. This was something new and we just felt that it looked tempting enough for at least a try. So, we got ourselves some pie and you know how they say that people meant to be together do meet up at some point of life, that’s exactly how I felt after my first bite.

For years we went to that farm during apple picking season and  always got some apple pie, till they stopped making them for reasons unknown. Well, I had to crack down the recipe and try making it myself. Food should not be bound by a traditional recipe. A bit of change always brings out great flavor and a new recipe.

This Apple pie, since it isn’t just plain Apple puree, but apples cooked in butter, its like no other apple pie you have ever tried. Its crunchy yet soft, perfect sweetness with a hint of cinnamon…and you hardly chew it, it spreads so much flavor in your mouth while it melts with the first bite.

Try the recipe and do let me know if you liked it. Its always nice to do something that gives you flavor, yet a new trend.

Cinnamon Rolls with cream cheese icing

These cinnamon rolls aren’t just easy to make but, are also super fluffy and light, better than any store bought roll…Trust me. These would melt in your mouth and melt you heart too…

Honestly, yeast and I aren’t very good friends. It actually used to scare me to use yeast and I have had so many failures with yeast, that I have lost count. But then, I couldn’t give up my love for baking breads and decided to get to know “Yeast” better and learn to work cordially. We’ve been best friends since then….LOLzzz. I know my stories are sometimes too long and some of you might just want to jump to the actual dish than to play around and read the stories. But you know what, this is what would connect us. Every food has a story and mostly, its worth remembering and sharing, even if the dish is a disaster.

So, this is the story to this wonderful dish: I realized that would see cinnamon rolls EVERYWHERE. We go to the mall and Mr. Parveez would buy them. I see my boys head over heels in love with them. I see my little one craving for more….and sometimes all these are signs that you have to be on a mission and make your own. So, I start my search to get an authentic recipe  and found some wonderful recipes, all very different from the other. I decided to pick and choose and make my own. First Batch, a BIG disaster  and I made changes. Second Batch, a few more changes…a few more after the third. Fourth batch, the cinnamon rolls were perfect but the icing messed it up and finally, fifth batch, they came out perfect. This recipe is fool proof and something that you will save and love and pass on.

 

With regular cinnamon roll recipes, there’s so a lot of waiting time for the yeast to rise and to be sure that the dough would turn out perfect. Honestly, as much as I enjoy cooking, I do not have the time and energy to wait that long. I love making things that can be served in less amount of time. Something, that’s clean, cooked with love and effort without wasting too much time. But, that doesn’t mean I would try a recipe where cinnamon rolls are made within an hour. I like to give my food flavors time to mingle too.

I’ve managed to meet these soft cinnamon rolls in a little prep time with a faster procedure and made sure that they stay soft, fluffy and wonderful.

P.S. Don’t let the yeast scare you. It takes time to open, but once you know it well, you will love it just like me.

Waffles With Cream

Waffles are one delicious breakfast. Be it any type, Plain, Belgian, Chocolate or fruit. They are always so satisfying and delicious. My boys can do anything to get their favorite waffles. The American food kind of wins over my paranthas every time. I call that to be the blessings of settling down in USA…LOLzzz. The fact that my boys have huge variety to pick from is a delight in its own way and as a mom who loves cooking, I always find their food demands wonderful.

Waffles are super easy. The recipe below is for Belgian waffles. Basically, this recipe can be used for any waffle by adding your favorite fruit or chocolate and the flavors are always so delicious and warm.

I have even served my boys waffle as an after school snack. They always taste extra scrumptious during winters, they love the warm waffles drizzled with maple or chocolate syrup. You can also add some whipped cream and drizzle some chocolate sauce on it with some colorful sprinkles.

Chiroti Khajas

I have mentioned in my other food stories of how my better half, Mr. Parveez has loads of stories of his different food flavors that he has experienced since childhood.

One of his childhood favorites were Khajas. Khajas are also known as Chirotis down south. Now, let me get this straight, I had never tried khajas before, so when Mr. Parveez told me the story about Khajas, the explanation was, “Its has layers, its fried and its sweet”. According to him the details good enough but imagine getting these details for something you haven’t seen or tasted.

But, when Mr. Parveez demands something, I have to try and do everything to make it for him. Cooking for him, specially what he demands give me immense happiness. I get a kick out of it….LOLzzz.

So, basically I was still clueless as to what he expected and just went ahead with what I understood and the result was a disaster. They were too soft, chewy and absorbed too much oil and were nothing close to what Mr. Parveez desired. But, I can’t give up so easily, therefore there was a second try and this time I made sure I do proper research before a try.

Mr. Parveez always called them “Khajas”. While doing my research, I found that they are widely known as “Chiroti”. Reading various regions making it, I not only understood how to make them, but also got an idea of so many variations in them.

This recipe that I am sharing is fool proof and very easy. Loved by kids and adults. Do try it.

Palak ka Parantha

We love Palak/ Spinach and if you follow my recipes, you would know that I always try to find new ways of making spinach. Sometimes, with meat, chicken and so many types of different daals or making palak in different kinds of dry curries as well.

After all those I felt making Palak ka parantha for breakfast would be a great idea. We love methi parantha and the recipe was simple and great, so I decided to use the same recipe for Palak parantha.

The good thing with palak parantha is that the kids enjoy eating it too with yogurt and it makes a great and healthy breakfast. Its a great option for lunch too and you can conveniently eat it on diets as well.

Hariyali Daal

Belonging to Northern west part of India, I grew up eating more of Moong, Masoor and chana daal. Toovar daal was either used to accasionally make sambhar or my mom’s Saturday Night khichdi. Believe it or not, my mom made khichdi every Saturday night and I always tried hard to get an answer to this question. The standard reply to my question was that my Dad enjoyed “Bhuni khichdi” or “pan fried khichdi” for breakfast every Sunday morning, therefore Khichdi had to made for Saturday dinner. Though I loved Sunday pan fried Khichdi, I still could never fall in love with the original Khichdi.

Coming back to Toovar daal. So, after I got married, I found so many different ways of cooking Toovar daal since down south, they cook a lot of Toovar daal. Isn’t it a blessing getting married to someone from a completely different state or region because you both are accustomed to eating similar flavors yet so many varieties add to your table in zoom. Its just amazing. All you need if you get married to someone different from you is keep an open heart, open mind and a pallet that is open to new foods and experiments. At least, thats what Mr. Parveez and I did.

Once when I revisited my hometown, I went to a restaurant and tried “Hari daal”… Now, with the flavor I did realize that its Toovar daal but what amazed me the most was to see my younger son, who was 4 that time, loved the daal and didn’t fuss. Of course, the restaurant owner didn’t share the recipe except confirming that it was Toovar daal. After I returned home, to USA, I still had the daal in mind and decided to trying to make it.

This daal is pretty easy to make and the best part is that because everything is blended, its easier for your kids to eat and enjoy the flavors. I always notice my boys taking coriander leaves, onions or tomatoes out of their daal but with this they enjoy the flavor and eat everything too.

Malai Kofta Curry

I belong to Rajasthan and I love almost all dishes that are from Rajasthan. Though Jodhpur, my home town is very popular for its Laal Maas, but its also very well known for its “asli ghee mein bani dishes”. One of my all time favorite is Malai Kofta. My home town, Jodhpur has some super amazing small restaurants that serve super delicious Malai Kofta. These restaurants are so small that they will never show up on a google map, but a true Jodhpuri knows how to get around and satisfy their taste buds.

Growing up, I loved going to all those restaurants, it was just so much fun and now, every time I visit my hometown, I revisit all these restaurants for the love of my hometown food. this is the closest I could get to the Malai Kofta flavor of Marwar.

Drumstick Leaves Ka Chaar

“Har Khana kuchh kehta hai…Kuchh meethi yaadein…kuchh kisse…har bachpan ke unchuhe hisse…”

Every dish has a story…some beautiful memories…some childhood stories that you remember with every flavor….This dish belongs to my better half’s, Mr. Parveez’s hometown, Bengaluru. The name has been derived from Tamilian word “Chaaru” that stands for curry.

Living in USA, we Indians learn how to substitute few ingredients with what we have back home to what’s available in our grocery store. So, one day I found a new addition to our local grocer’s Veggie section. Like a little happy child in candy land, I called up my husband informing him about the drumstick leaves, asking him if they can be used.

You might find it extremely funny to read, but I normally text and call him when I am at grocery store. I actually became pretty popular among workers at the store since they always see me clicking pictures and texting someone [my husband] and then come back to the section to pick what I clicked. I really don’t know what kind of husbands take their wives calls in one time because it never happens with me. I usually get a call back after 5 minutes, with a patent dialogue “phone was on silent” or “Dekha nahi” [I didn’t pay attention] or a text back saying “meeting”. And as much as I feel that he should attend me before the rest of the world, I let it go…LOLzzz… Not really, the poor guy works very hard and I know if it isn’t work, he would make sure he talks to me first.

Ohh sorry, the story took a sweet romantic turn, lets get back to the main story. So, I call him all happy that I found drumstick leaves and he got super excited and asked me to buy them.

Once home, he asks me to make this dish which we normally make with spinach [equally flavorful, though]. This dish is healthy and its great for diets or low carb diets. The good thing about this dish is that this two dishes in one. This dish gives out a dry dish and a liquid daal type dish that makes it easy to eat with Rice and parantha/phulkas.

With each bite, he remembered his childhood of how his mother prepared this from the fresh leaves plucked from the neighbor’s tree….childhood flavors stay for life.