Kumro Phool er Bora - How to cut and prep Pumpkin Blossom

Kumro Phooler Bora

Growing pumpkin plants is easy. I do it every year to reap the flowers with which I make kumro phooler Bora.

All you need is-

The flowers, cleaned as shown in the video.

¾ cups chickpea flour

¼ cups rice flour

1 tsp khaskhas or posto or poppy seeds.

1 tsp nigella seeds

Salt, sugar and turmeric to taste

Mustard oil, for the batter as well as for frying

Water to make the perfectly set batter.

This much of batter would make 20 flower fritters.

Prawns and Garlic in Extra Virgin Olive Oil!!

One of the best things in life is to travel and enjoy various different culinary experiments. This dish is one such memory of mine, that I picked up in Mallorca, Spain. Now, its such a simple dish, that its extremely important to take care of the quality of all three of the main ingredients. 

For this recipe you would need-

250 gms good quality, fresh prawns or shrimps. In fact any other shell fish too would work. But the seafood needs to be fresh and cleaned properly. I have made this recipe many times with squids, or baby octopuses too. 

7 to 8 big size garlic pods.

1/2 cup or more of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Of course a Spanish olive oil would be preferred.

Red Dried chilies to taste. You can entirely forgo and not use this ingredient at all. But I like the heat. I have used dried Spanish chilies and these little guys pack a bomb in it. 

Salt, pepper and lemon drops to taste. 

It is very simple to put together-

Just roughly chop the garlic and add it in a wok with the chilies of your choice and 1/2 cup or more of olive oil. I never measure the Extra Virgin Olive oil in this recipe. And yes, you need to use the good, expensive stuff for this recipe. 

Put your flame on, and let the heat gently bring the oil and the garlic to a bubbling temperature. 

Once there, carefully drop in the prawns, one by one. Be careful, the oil might splatter. 

When the prawns are lovely and pink, add salt to taste. 

Switch off the flame and squeeze on a bit of lemon juice. The citrus just brightens up the flavor. Sprinkle on some pepper before serving. 

Cheers!!

Fat to Fit- Take a Break with Frappe!

Break is as important for me, as is work. And I guess we creative people understand the value of these 2 things together. Routine can never lead up to outstanding results in life. Its what we learn from these breaks, that provides the fuel to the feed. And I make it a habit to take a break in everything I do. Today I am writing about how to incorporate break in a rigorous calorie counted diet, and why it works well.

So, we started with a fairly balanced diet, wherein now everyone of you know my aim, and the health goal I need to achieve. I don’t have a strict timeline. But before the summer hits us hard, I need to lose a couple of kgs, and inches too. But for all of the last week and this, I am on a break. I don’t have a set meal plan for this break. I am eating regular meals, which is high on protein, but less on carbohydrates. But I ate 2 gujiyas last week, along with 3 glasses of wine. But of course, within a span of a whole week. So see, I want my body to not feel restricted. In fact, the restrictions play on the mind more than the body and trust me it never leads to good. Instead I want to lose weight while keeping my body and mind completely satisfied. That is holistic weight loss, and that will make sure I keep the weight lost for years to come.

Confused, I don’t blame you. It is a bit confusing when you let go. It is a natural process that you and I can’t change. But I would try simplifying a bit further through these easy to read pointers-

First step is always to initiate our body into the weight loss journey. We start slowly, taking care that we don’t suddenly remove a major nutrient from our diet. That’s why my first meal plan was perfect. It had everything, but in the right form and quantity. See, I am a working mom who doesn’t have the luxury of fussing about myself all day long. So, I need to keep myself hydrated and well fed, in order to make sure a good environment in my restaurant and home is maintained. The very first problem serial dieters face is irritability and temper tantrums. And mind you, these tantrums are never normal or forgivable. The first meal plan is right here.

Second step was to initiate the body on burning some insane fat deposited in some invisible corner of my body, and hence; a slightly more calorie reduced meal plan. Now this well-structured meal plan was great for me as in a week, with right amount of exercise and activity, I shed 1.5 kg with this. The second meal plan, if you haven’t already seen it, is right here.

Third step was to be comfortable in the 3 kg loss that I did within these 3 weeks, right after I was back from Goa. And that’s why, I rested all of last week, where in I indulged in my favourite treats, still managing to keep the weight to constant till today. Today grudgingly, I will stop my break time and get to a meal plan. But for you my readers, you break has just started. Enjoy to the fullest, but just keep following the golden rules of the game.

• 1.       3 drinks of alcohol only in a day, that too just once a week.
• 2.       6 glasses of water need to go in along with it.
• 3.       No carbohydrates after 7 pm.
• 4.       Sweets in moderation only, properly portioned.

If you can go without any wine, then my blessings are with you. However, I couldn’t even stop at 2 so I mentioned 3 here. I drank 3 glasses, while watching Baywatch on amazon prime. And frankly, it was a good Saturday spent, so no complaints. The day you drink, steer clear of sweets. Also, try to drink or eat irresponsibly only for lunch. Evenings need to be boring.

So going with the theme of cheating, here is my recipe for the day. I created a fat free frappe, with real sugar and cream, but took the fat out with the help of science, not chemicals. It is one of my video productions, and the measurement of any ingredients mentioned here doesn’t matter. With the summer approaching, this along with a shot of Kahlua could very well be a killer treat for a person like me. Cheers!

Ingredients

Whipping cream- 200 ml

Sugar powder to taste

Ice cubes to taste

500 ml of Recently boiled water

Instant espresso powder – 2 tbsp or to taste

Cheers!

Fat to Fit- Khandvi in the Week 2 Plan!

A week has past since I came back from my holiday in Goa. Holidays for me is a time to let go. I didn’t think calories or flab, and enjoyed every moment on sand as if it were my last moment on this beautiful earth. I didn’t have a worry. Went inside the lagoon fearlessly while I knew, I couldn’t swim. But now I am back, and after a week of carefully moderated meals and a bit of exercise thrown in, I am a kg lighter, and back to my goal of losing another 3 to 4 kgs in the next 6 weeks. Now would be the time for all of you to join in, if you want to begin on this journey with me.

Last week, I had shared a simple balanced meal plan. That plan was for all, everyone who wants to be healthy and is roughly 5 feet 2 inches tall. Today, I am leaping into deeper water, writing out a meal plan that I would base on my health goals, metabolism and my nutrition essentials. I understand if such a personalized meal plan is being published, then obviously my personal goals and parameters are to be spelled out first. So, its more of a personal rant which would follow in the next paragraph, which I would suggest you to read before u start on this plan along with me. Make sure that you customize the plan accordingly to suit your nutritional intake.

I am a healthy woman who can be described verbatim as being ‘petite.’ I have a BMI rate of 24.1, which though falls in normal category, still I would want to lower it furthermore. My health goal is not to just lose weight, but to achieve a higher metabolic rate. My second health goal is to defeat my chronic condition of Low Blood pressure, which for times more than my liking, cripples me to be on house arrest. There are no medication for the same, and so rest and protein rich food is the only way out of this condition. So undoubtedly, my aim at forming any meal plans for self is to ensure that I have enough protein in my diet and enough physical exercise to digest the difficult protein off my body. My biggest problem area in my body has to be my face, which just fluffs up in a kgs. gain, and comes down only when I loose around 3 kgs. The second problem area is my back, which accumulates a lot of fat, as if overnight I have grown 2 bulges which makes me look as if I am stooping even when I am standing upright. Sigh…

Honest confessions to internet is not easy, but well if I started on this journey, I better continue on it till end. So, coming back to my plan; this week I plan to keep it simple yet doable. I don’t want to include any high-profile superfood in my diet. Simple homemade Indian food and bonus recipe at the end for you to get it right.

Meal Plan for week 2-

7 am- Early morning starts with a glass of plain warm water followed by a glass of coriander and lime water. All I need to do is boil coriander for 10 mins strain, add lime and drink. I mostly do the boiling in the night and let it cool overnight, in the fridge.

7.15 am – 3 soaked almonds and a cup of black coffee without sugar.

Breakfast- 1 egg with 1 slice of whole wheat toast or 1 serving of khandvi which is made of all protein rich ingredients. For breakfast, you can include the tadka too.

11.30 am would be the best time to have a bowl of papaya and if hungry, then some pcs of apples too.

Lunch- it is the most favorite meal of mine so I will have it like a queen. A lean protein like egg/chicken or fish with a bowl of cut carrots and cucumbers, followed by a phulka and cooked vegetable.  (full Indian thali)

5 pm – would be the right time to work on my metabolism, so a cup of curd and flax meal would be perfect.

7.30 pm can start with some protein filled food- like sprout salad or khandvi without tadka and a cup of earl grey tea.

9 pm- would be the last meal of the day wherein keep it protein and cucumbers only. Like humus and salad or grilled chicken and vegetables.

And by 11 pm, sleep!

I would need to exercise in the day, mostly I will either skip for 500 times or brisk walk for 45 minutes. After diligently following this meal plan and responsibly cheating during the weekend, I would report back my findings here next week. For the last week, the cheating included a spoonful of rice for Saturday dinner, along with 2 glasses of wine.

Next week, I will talk about why I am keeping so many meals planned for the night, while I eat scarcely during the day. If the principal I am testing, works; then my friends you are in for a great trick which would help you loose weight easily, without achieving a plateau. Also, I am working on another article trying to point out mistakes that people commit during the night which leads them to reach a plateau in their weight loss goals. Now to the recipe that everyone must be waiting for- Khandvi!!

Ingredients

1 cup gram flour or besan

1 cup curd

1 chilly grated

1 inch ginger grated

A pinch of hing or asafoetida

Salt to taste

Haldi or turmeric for the bright colour

Water as needed

For tadka which is optional-

2 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 slit green chillies

And a big pinch of fresh curry leaves

Grated Carrots are extremely optional, a more traditional ingredient would be coconut grated. But I am using carrots today as it is healthy and looks veraciously red and decadent

This is a recipe that needs to be seen. But in my experience, I have seen many YouTube videos that do not cover the finer details of this recipe. I am doing something I have never done before. Instead of making video recipes, I am actually pasting links of people who have posted the recipe in their respective vlog channels, with footnotes of things that either they missed, or could be introduced in the method which would alter the results quite a bit.

Today, I take on 2 master chefs- Tarla Dalal the legend in herself and Kunal Kapoor, the Master chef judge. They both have millions of admirers online, including me. And I always love to see their take on recipes before I start off in the kitchen. I will start today with K kitchen- the video is here

Chef Kunal does what chefs do the best, beautify the dish so so much that it becomes too pretty to eat.

• 1.       .43 seconds – I suggest we actually mix the besan with curd first and then add water. In fact I suggest we add the water just last and about 1.5 cups does a better job, than 2 cups of water.
• 2.       Add hing in the batter, trust me on this.
• 3.       1.19 sec- never should you pour the batter in a hot kadahai. It forms lumps immediately. Pour first and then put it on flame always.
• 4.       4.19 sec- instead of coconut, I suggest using carrots for a healthier lighter, yet a pretty coloured dish. You can leave it plain too, as I mostly do anyways.
• 5.       I loved the fact that he never asked you to grease the thali. You don’t need to grease it at all. If it is cooked well, it rolls out beautifully. And greasing can actually prevent you from spreading evenly.

The legend that was Tarla Dalal (video), she made it as a home cook would- that is without a care in the world that she could go wrong. After all she must have made this recipe so many times before. Her batter was a bit lumpy, but much drier than chef Kapoor’s and I feel it is advisable to keep the batter thicker like so. 

Another important step that she mentions is testing the batter before spreading it fully on the plate. Do make it a point to do so, as it is the most important step to get it right, without fail.

Both these people are great in the recipe. And both their styles are much different to each other. Hopefully with my pointers, you too would be able to make khandvi like a pro. If you do, please do not forget to let me see a picture of it soon! Cheers!!

P.S. - Khandvi is a protein rich food which is low on fat, and could be your ideal post work out snack. That's why, enjoy a good plate of khandvi this week. Next week, there will be more bonus recipes which you never thought could be this healthy!

PICNIC 101 - Cinnamon Rolls & Pizza, Packed!

Last week, it was raining in Gurgaon!! Rains in winter is not a rare occurrence, in fact we were waiting for it, for some time. The rain ensures the cold stays. The cold ensures we go out for picnics for all of February! And what better than equipping yourself with a versatile recipe that makes you whip up batches of all different kinds of delicacies that tastes great when hot from the oven, or cool to room temperature. And I am teaching you three variations right here and now, but really the world your pickle. Go mad and play with the dough to your heart’s desire. It’s a full proof recipe, wherein I will put across many tips and tricks to get it right always!

Majorly the recipe is very simple. All we are doing is making an all APF dough, then dividing the dough enough to get various different forms of bread. I am making ½ of the dough in a  sweet form, while the other gets a savoury taste. Now this is a basic recipe I use pretty much always to make a host of other things, like hot cross buns or fruit bread or just simple white sandwich bread loaf. Its 100 % vegetarian, and we don’t use any eggs as well. The dough is simple to put together, all you need are the following ingredients-

INGREDIENTS

5 to 6 cups of Maida or All-purpose flour (APF)

500 ml of milk, lukewarm to touch

3 tsp of instant yeast

2 tsp of baking powder

2 tbsp of vinegar

3 tsp salt

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

In the lukewarm milk, add honey and mix well. Now sprinkle in the yeast and let it proof for some time till it awakens and is frothy and smells a lot like bread.

In another bowl, mix 4 cups of flour with salt and baking powder. Mix and keep it aside for the yeast to get frothy.

Now mix both liquid and dry ingredients, start mixing the dough. Once you can’t see much of liquid milk left in the bowl, add the vinegar and olive oil and another cup of flour. Mix and knead till you get a nice dough which is not very sticky, but soft and supple, and springs back on touch. This is the time when you preheat the oven for 2 mins and then promptly switch it off.

Now take greased bowl, keep the ball of dough in the bowl and cover the top well with olive oil. Now take it inside the warm, but switched off oven and let it proof and come to life for 2 to 3 hours. The oven really helps in giving a warm climate for the dough to rise, in this cold winter day. And trust me, it would do better than the closed cupboard you used to use earlier. Trust me on that.

Now once the dough rises and proofs, you have a decision to make. I made half of it into cinnamon rolls and other half into a large pizza, which was good enough to feed an army of 4-year olds.

CINNAMON ROLLS!!

½ a stick of butter in room temperature

2 tsp of cinnamon

4 tbsp or more of brown sugar

A tsp of vanilla extract

Mix all of these together in a bowl and set it aside to marry each other.

Roll out the dough in a rectangle, which is not more than ½ of an inch thick. Now apply the paste of cinnamon and sugar as evenly as possible. And then roll the dough to form an even log. Cut the log in half and then make ½ an inch-thick marks to create beautiful cinnamon rolls. Transfer the cut rolls in a buttered oven proof dish and let it rise for 40 mins in a closed and switched off oven.

Bake the rolls in a preheated oven, at 180 degrees C, for 20 to 25 minutes, until it turns a delicious golden colour, and is cooked all the way through.

For baking it on the day of the picnic, I have a trick for u. First, the night before, you can always create the rolls, place them in a greased bowl and tightly pack it with cling film. Now without keeping it in oven for 40 minutes to proof, refrigerate it overnight. On the day of picnic, put it in a warm, yet turned off oven for 40 minutes, before baking. Bake and serve freshly made cinnamon rolls, while it is still warm. Brush the top with more melted butter, as it comes out of the oven.

Alternately, steam the buns instead of baking it, the night before. And reheat the buns slightly before packing it for picnic. Steaming these buttery cinnamon rolls provides another texture to the dish. You can even have the steamed buns cold, it would still be pillowy soft and decadent. Steam the buns in a full boil for 20 minutes, till the flour becomes translucent.

 FOR PIZZA-

Take the other half of the dough and flatten it out on a sheet pan. Oil the pan generously so that nothing sticks. Then place the flat dough on the pan and push and pull to fit the cookie pan completely. Set it aside for resting for 30 minutes.

Assemble the pizza topping and pizza sauce. I most often then not, mix great amount of dried herbs in ketchup to make the sauce. Taste as u go.

Now apply a generous amount of sauce on the uncooked pizza dough to coat well. Cover it with cut vegetables of choice, and cover the veggies with cheese of choice. I prefer processed cheese and gruyere if I am serving the pizza cold. If I am serving it hot, straight out of the oven then I prefer fresh mozzarella and gruyere with a good sprinkle of parmigiana. But I am a cheese geek, you definitely don’t need to be. Top it with whatever cheese u have or fancy.

Bake for 25 minutes in a moderately hot pre-heated oven to have a melty gooey soft and yet so delicious pizza, which is a great cross between the bready and thin crust pizza your neighborhood

fast food place sells.

Enjoy the picnics.. Cheers!!

PICNIC 101- Chocolaty Oats and Apples Muffins!

The sky is clean, smells crisp; the westerly winds blow into the face just the way I would have liked. Yes, I stay in the capital of India, and yes, we do get these pristine mornings, sometime. But when we do, I waste no time in getting my feisty handsome foursome out in the sun, feeling the green under his limbs. This is undoubtedly the best time in the year to be in Gurgaon. And no weekend should go without a nice picnic, out in the sun.

Now picnics could be organised in a lot of ways than one. A casual beer and wine with barbecue on the side ought to be my favourite. Followed closely by a cook-earlier-serve-later-kinds. And the potluck, ah that takes the cake! So, the series starting now should keep you covered for each picnic event that you plan with your family and friends. In fact, I would also squeeze in a fantastic romantic brunch for 2, out on the terrace, with sun brimming in. It would be a hassle free, completely cook ahead, yet hot kind of romantic brunch, that could be served with a light champagne cocktail.

But to kickstart the series, here is my go to healthy snack for kids and adults alike. This is perfect to be taken on a long drive out of home. Its filling, yet full of good things which makes sure you are on the track for the new year resolution you so solemnly took. Alternately, if you have leftovers, you can simply pack it in the tiffin boxes for your kids to take to school, during the week. It is my very tried and tested recipe for some chocolaty apple and oat muffins. This much of ingredients make 12 big muffins.

INGREDIENTS

2 apples, peeled and sliced

1 cup of oats

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup curd, homemade works well

½ cup honey

2 tbsp. of your favourite jam, I used homemade strawberryjam that I made last year. Read about it by clicking here!

½ cup hot water

¼ cup cocoa powder

Vanilla extract

Salt

¼ cup sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

Upto 2/3 cups of whole-wheat flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Chocolate chips or nuts, which are optional, but highly recommended.

METHOD

Trust me when I say that it can’t get any easier than this. We basically just blend everything together and bake. That is, it!!!!

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c and get that going. Line your muffin pans with paper cups and keep it ready. I at times like to spray the cups with some vegetable oil so that nothing sticks to the paper.

Now the fun begins. Get the best blender you can lay your hands on and start blending the apples, oats, jam, egg, curd and oil to a nice homogeneous paste. I used my robust Hamilton beach smoothie maker, trust me it never fails me. If you don’t have a fancy blender, then just do the blending in a mixer grinder, starting always with the oats. Make a fine powder and then add all the wet ingredients to make a paste.

While that is mixing, mix in a measuring jug ¼ cup pure unsweetened cocoa powder with hot water, stir vigorously and keep it aside to bloom. This step really helps in building a darker stronger chocolate flavour. Add the sugar to the hot mix as well, it would help dissolve the grains.

Now in a nice big bowl, whisk 1/3 cup of whole-wheat flour with baking powder, soda and salt and keep it ready. If you are adding chocolate chips or nuts, then coat the additions in flour at this stage, and keep it ready.

Just to break up the method, you have 3 separate elements of the muffins ready. You have a blended mix of oats and apples, a jug full of chocolate goodness and dry flour coated nuts and chips. Now comes the assembly.

Let the chocolate mix cool a little before adding in the vinegar and vanilla. Pour it in the blender along with the apples and oats, and blend again. Once its thoroughly mixed, pour it on the dry mix and combine well. The batter should be in a spoon dropping consistency, adjust with the extra 1/3 cup of whole-wheat flour, if the need be.

At this time, just lick the batter to taste for the sweetness. If you use tart apples, you may need to adjust sugar accordingly. But for me, the Kashmiri apples pack a lot of natural sweetness, and the half cup of honey takes care of the rest.

Now pour onto the ready muffin tin and bake for 15 -20 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the centre, comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy a scrumptious snack which is easy to carry, and yet satisfyingly moist and fluffy for a healthy bite!

Cheers!!

Maida 101 with my famous Bitter Orange Cake!!

All-purpose flour has been given a bad name since long. Let’s get to the bottom of it, as I am a known cynic, and I never take a fact in without proper due diligence. And this is my corner in the internet where I will write about all I feel. So with your love of pointers, here I go-

• Refined flour is basically a product of wheat kernels that has been pulverised in machines for a long time, and bleached to attain a pure white colour. In the process we actually strip down most of its health benefits, fibres and vitamins. What we are left with has a certain amount of protein, in the form of gluten; and starch.

• Soft pillow-y structure of a bread made with maida makes it extremely easy to chew and digest, and hence it has a tendency of being over consumed. The lack of fibres too doesn’t help. Fibres give us the feeling of being full, no fibres- no signal; and you end up eating double the amount required.

•  This is the main cause behind vilification of refined flour, it is so light that you over eat and gain empty calories for your body to store as fat. Fat deposits leads to major health problems in the long run.

• Obviously whole wheat flour which is milled in front of your eyes is a healthier option than maida; but in moderation usage of maida won’t harm us at all.

Today, I am healthifying my cake by adding full orange with skin in it, which would add the much needed fibres back in the cake. Try it once, and you would become a fan of this cake, as has my family! Cheers!!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour/maida

2 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

A handful of chocolate buttons

3 eggs

3 small size oranges, cut as shown in the video

½ cup of oil, I used light olive oil

1 cup sugar

Few drops of vanilla essence or ½ tsp of vanilla paste

2 Ingredient Challenge with Makha Shondesh!!

Makha Shondesh/Sandesh is basically a grandma staple from Bengali kitchens that got lost in the race to become modern. It’s an extremely easy recipe, involving just 2 ingredients, and no fuss or elbow grease. I am sure it takes less time than your microwaveable cakes, it contains less calories than those mug cakes and has better nutrition than any pastry or cakes at all. So I bring to you all lovely people, a simple dish, which is as delectable as bongs themselves.

Ingredients

200 Gms paneer or cottage cheese.

2 to 3 Tbsp. of melted date or palm jaggery. In fact a friend pointed out date syrup, and even that works for this.

A mixer grinder

A splash of milk

A pinch of salt.

I bet you already have all these ingredients in home. Just whizz it up and believe me, you would just thank me for it. CHEEERS!!

 

Facebook live with Veggie Smileys!!

So from now on wards, every week Zouqh is going live on Facebook with a new recipe. If you haven’t already liked our page, then don’t forget to do so right away!! We did our very first live video on Sunday. It was a moderate success, but there is always a scope of improvement. Comment like and share if you have a suggestion. I am always eager to hear your thoughts!!

This week, we made my toddler’s favourite snack- smileys. For any mother the above plate is blasphemous and she would cringe at the thought of giving this to her toddler to eat for Sunday lunch. But believe it or not, I did give this to my toddler on Sunday, and yet we were a happy duo. He was happy because he loves to have tasty finger food. I was happy because each and every component was made at home, and provided a balance nutrition to my child. The fish fingers were marinated and coated in a bread crumb mixture at home, and then stored in freezer bags. Sometimes I deep fry them, and sometimes I bake them. In any case it provides a healthy protein in my fussy toddler’s plate.

The smileys in question had carrots, green leaves and potatoes together. It was extremely tasty and my toddler finished all of these on Sunday. I saw he enjoyed feeding himself at intervals. I kept these neatly stacked in a see through glass jar. He would play, and come to grab one from the jar, eat as a snack, and back to his cars to play. It’s a sheer joy to see him feed himself, and it’s a nice feeling to be away from the chore of mandatorily sitting to feed him a meal. I let him enjoy his day, his way. And that let us both enjoy the holiday a bit better!!

I have posted the videos on my YouTube channel as well as on my FB page. Please feel free to like comment and share! Cheers!!

Ingredients

2 medium carrot and 2 medium potatoes boiled and smashed to bits

Salt to taste

1 cup Cornflour, to make a dough

Pepper to taste

Flavourings fresh or dried herbs to taste- I used chopped leaves of parsley, onion and garlic from my garden.

1 tbsp of oil

Tools required

A rolling pin to evenly roll out the dough

A chopstick with a round bottom to make eyes of the smileys

A round cookie cutter, or a jar lid.

A table spoon to make the smile.

2 Ingredient Challenge with Kaju Barfi!!

It’s the weekend again… And I had been working very hard to get you covered for the weekend pangs completely. I have in the week uploaded quite a lot of videos, made and ate those things to gain weight considerably. But hey, we live one life only. And these luxurious enjoyments are the most satisfying, in the most inexpensive way possible. So if you are like me, and you feel the same; then I have got you covered with amazing video recipes for the full 2 days.

Firstly, I want to thank my favourite person in the world for a thoughtful gift in these packets of freshly milled flour. I still have no clue as to who and/or why sent this gift towards me, but I thank that unknown figure for the happiness it got to so many people. I made a sweet braided bread and brownies with it. And I thought it would be perfect to share with friends and family, considering it’s a gift I loved the most. So my friend Sourabh thanks you for the amazing brownies he ate, and his lovely wife thanks you for instilling in the desire to bake again. She did bake actually, and took it for her mother in law’s birthday bash. Speaking of mother in laws, mine is pretty happy too. She enjoyed the pillowy softness of the strawberry braided bread, and revelled on compliments given to her in a small kitty party she organized. So, you see, you actually caught the good will of many people, by this act! Thanking you to the moon and back.

Now to the recipes- I have a brownie- which is amazinglychocolatey and fudgy, for all times when the chocolate craving gets the betterof you.

I have the Sunday morning baking sorted with this luscious pillowy strawberry filled braided bread that is perfect for packing on the go breakfast or snack tiffin’s throughout the week.

But right now, let’s talk about the Friday night hunger pangs, that you know you would start feeling when the kids are packed off to bed. We are all the same, at the end, we just want to relax with nice low music, and a creamy little kind-of-guilt-free treat. It is my- 2 Ingredient Kaju Barfi.

Now I call it 2 ingredients as it is majorly just 2, but a pinch of salt is mandatory for better flavour. So count that in always. Let’s switch to the pointers, I know so many of you love that about my recipes. So here we go-

• This is not baking, so really measurements are not that important. Taste while you make, and sweeten it to your liking. I am more of a dark chocolate and black coffee kind of person, so feel free if you need to add more or less of condensed milk.
•  Don’t be scared of making nut butters. It just is whizzed up nuts in a mixer grinder. And cashew nuts are easiest to make butters of as the fat content in cashew nut is way more in comparison to other nuts. Even if you don’t dry roast the cashews, you would still have a very flavourful butter at your hand. Dry roasting, or warming the nuts just aid the butter formation, but it isn’t extremely important.
• Condensed milk is your friend if you want to maintain a healthy weight, and yet enjoy these occasional treats. Why do you ask? Well condensed milk is made of milk solids and sugar, firstly a very clean product, sans any addition of chemicals. Secondly, if you mix condensed milk to fibres of some sort, and heat it up, it releases out a lot of fat. You will see in the video how much fat I removed out of these barfi’s. And yet it stays perfectly moist and fudgy for a week at room temperature. In fact, I still have some nutty laddus that I made 2 to 3 weeks back, and it is perfectly holding its shape and flavour. It is a processed, but stable product. But, please refrain from licking the full tin on its own. Then, I am afraid, I cant be blamed for it.

So I have covered all the points. And now all there is to it is for me to write the ingredients, and send you off to my YouTube Channel for the easy process of making these Fudgy Barfies.

Ingredients

½ cup + ¼ cup of broken kaju / Cashewnuts

¼ cup condensed milk

A pinch of salt

Optional is to add a pinch of elaichi powder/ cardamom Powder

 The Direct Link to the YouTube video is embedded here. do follow the link, like, Comment and Subscribe to the Channel. Cheers!!

Fool Proof Fudgy Brownies!!

Who in their right mind can deny a piece of fudgy brownie? Even the steel like determination wager, when you have this tower of leaning brownies in front of you. Its not a sin to dive your teeth into these deliciousness, but it would be a sin if I hadn't shared my Fool Proof Oooey gooey brownie recipe with you. And I am scared of sins!!!

So here it is.. The method is on Youtube! AND WHILE YOU ARE THERE, DO NOT FORGET TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL. Cheers!!

Ingredients

1 Cup Milk
80 gms chopped Dark Chocolate, the darkest is better. Refrain from using milk chocolate. 
100 gms of Salted Butter
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1.5 tsp Instant Coffee
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Oil
1 cup White Sugar
1 handful of Chocolate Chips
1 handful of Walnuts
1 cup All Purpose Flour

The Method is on My YouTube Channel. Click here. 

NOTE-

• All purpose flour is your biggest enemy, so get the batter consistency right; just as shown in the video.
• Coffee helps enhance the chocolatey flavour of the brownies, so do not omit adding it.
• Oil and butter are key to the recipe. Oil provides a squeeshy softness, while butter provides thew richness.
• And a minimum of 50 % dark cocoa based chocolates should be used to make these brownies. More the cocoa content, more darker and complex the taste of the brownies become. I mostly use 70 % dark chocolate. And I love the bitter complex taste it provides. Even, after adding a cup of sugar.