Friday, May 4, 2012

"Appetizers"- Spinach-Rice Vadas

Potluck Potlucks potlucks...sometimes I run out of ideas..what should I make??? I remembered my friend 'S' telling me about how she uses up the leftover rice.
I thought why not try these vadas and add some spinach so that you feel just a bit less guilty about eating fried food ;)

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked rice (leftover or cooled)
1/2 cup finely chopped spinach (you can add more for more greener vadas)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1tsp finely chopped green chilies (add more for spicier vadas)
1tsp finely chopped garlic
1tsp cumin
1/3 cup Chakali bhajani or  Rice flour  ( they will be tastier with chakali bhajani)
salt
oil to fry

 Method:
1) Mix together rice, spinach and all the above ingredients. Mix well.
2) Make into 'doughnut' or medu vada shape.
3) Deep fry in oil till golden brown. Drain on paper towel

4) Serve hot with your favorite chutney/ hot and sweet sauce




Wednesday, May 2, 2012

My Kitchens Aroma gets a makeover!

My Kitchen's Aroma will now be...... 'The Sizzling Pan'
www.thesizzlingpan.com

Hope you will love the new look and name of My Kitchen's Aroma and visit the newbie....."The Sizzling Pan".
Thank you for your support and visiting my blog!
You all are the BEST and inspire me to cook,click and blog!!!
 Spread the word and this link-
www.thesizzlingpan.com
Also, bear with me a few weeks..... as I will be experimenting with the design and layout of the blog.
Thanks,
Deepti

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

"Everyday Cooking"- Chicken meat ball curry/ Kheema ball curry

We have a little 'Dinosaur" or to be precise "Triceratops" at home and he has been liking 'Dinosaur food" lately!! Yeah..that's what my 4.5 year old 'E' has been telling me. Since Dinosaurs ate 'meat'....he loves anything with the word 'meat' in it.
The other day I made these as appetizers and he gobbled like 4 of them...which is very unlikely of him. He said he lovedddd the 'Meat balls'.
http://my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/2009/11/appetizers-chicken-kheema-balls-minced.html
Other one of his favorites for a long time now is.. 'Naan' and 'Orange bhaji' (that's what he calls the red colored Punjabi curries')
I made this 'Meal Ball Curry' to go along with his favorite Naan...

Ingredients:
Chicken Meat balls :
2 cups Ground Chicken
1 small onion chopped finely
1tsp ginger garlic paste
1tsp  Chicken masala/garam masala/kitchen king masala
1tsp Chili powder
2tsp chopped mint
4tsp chopped cilantro
1/2tsp cumin
1/2tsp turmeric
salt
1tbsp oil to fry
Baked version of meat balls:
http://my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/2009/11/appetizers-chicken-kheema-balls-minced.html

Curry:
2 large onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1tsp ginger garlic paste
1tsp chicken curry masala
1tsp chili powder
1/2tsp turmeric
1/2tsp shahi jeera
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves
4-5 Black pepper corns
salt
oil
Cilantro for garnishing

Method:
1) Mix together ground chicken, onion, mint and all the above ingredients. Mix till well distributed.Make small lemon size balls.
2) Heat 1 tbsp oil in non stick skillet. Place the balls and fry til brown on one side. Turn/ flip the balls gently and fry till golden on all sides.Drain and keep aside.
3) In the same pan ( with the left over oil of the meat balls), add the shahi jeera, pepper, bay leaf and fry for few seconds. Add the onions and cook till tender and browned.Add the tomatoes and ginger garlic paste. Fry till cooked.
4) Add the dry masala powders, salt and water and boil.
5) Add the meat balls and boil for 2-3 mins. Garnish with lots of cilantro.

Serve hot with hot Naan/Roti or Rice



Monday, April 30, 2012

"Pat a Cake"- Zebra Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting


It was 'M's birthday , and like every year...I wanted to bake a special cake for him. I knew ...he loves the Zebra cake ( there is still a kid in him!!) and I didn't have to think much on what to make.
I decided to frost the cake with a Chocolate whipped cream frosting as I had wanted to try it out for so long.

The cake I baked was from the recipe I found here on AZ Cookbook:
http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/
I did everything as the recipe said ...except I added 2tbsp powdered sugar to the 'cocoa batter' ( last time i tried it...it was less sweet for my taste)


For Extra Moistness-
*****Once the cake was baked, I let it cool and spray it with Sugar-vanilla syrup to make it extra moist and delicious
Recipe-
Boil 3/4 cup water with 1/3 cup sugar for 8 mins. Let it cool.Add 1/2 tsp vanilla essence.Spray with a spray bottle on the cake and let it soak for 40-50 mins before frosting the cake.

Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/WhippedCreamFrosting.html

The icing tasted heavenly!!! But it was a lot thinner/softer to make good icing patterns.
Next time I am going to try the gelatin in the icing to make it sturdier....


Finally....
I grated/ shaved some Dark chocolate onto the cake to give it that extra chocolaty taste and pretty look!
Garnished the cake with a fresh strawberry.


'M" loveddddd the cake and it was gone in no time...