Nanaimo Bars

After a successful run with the Lemon bars, I wanted to try my hands on yet another kind of bar/squares. That's when I discovered Nanaimo bars. They are basically 3 layers of goodness beginning with a layer of cocoa, egg, butter, coconut, digestive biscuit crumbs and nuts, followed by a buttery custard filling and topped with melted chocolate. Originally from Canada, these little treats will give you quite the sugar rush. This is sure to satisfy the sweetest of the sweet tooth. Personally, I'd go easy on the sugar next time around.
Ingredients:
Bottom layer:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups digestive biscuit crumbs
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts
Middle layer:
1/4 cup butter
4 tb sp milk/cream
2 tb sp custard powder (vanilla)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup icing sugar (original recipe calls for 2)
Top layer:
2/3 cup cooking chocolate
1 tb sp butter
Method:
Bottom layer:
Bring together cocoa, butter and sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Add beaten egg very slowly and carefully not letting it scramble. Cook for a few minutes till the mixture is thick. Take it off heat. Add the biscuit crumbs, coconut and nuts. Mix well and press into the bottom of prepared pan (8 inch). Refrigerate for an hour or until set well.
Middle layer:
Whisk butter (with a fork) well, till fluffy. Add the custard powder and vanilla. Add milk/cream. Add the sugar and mix well. Spread it on the prepared bottom layer. If it is too thick to spread, add more milk. Let it set for another hour or so.
Top layer:
Using a double boiler melt butter and chocolate and pour over the set mixture. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour more.
Let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting them into squares. Use a very sharp knife to avoid the chocolate layer cracking.

Nanaimo bars ready to be served.
Damn! They're good.

POtato Leek Soup

Soup served cold...always interested me. A simple light soup with a zing of a herb and a soft creamy taste to add a rich comfort food taste. Thats all I wanted. Palla suggested a potato leek soup, hence when we were at Gourmet, picked up two sticks of leeks along with some kale, fennel and thyme too (oki unnecessary information). So here is how :
Ingredients:
Two big bada boom sized potatoes, boiled with salt and then mashed with a spoon.
Two sticks of leek, finely chopped
6 pods of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbl spoons of fresh cream
salt and pepper to taste
Process:
I guess the ingredients themselves speak for the dish as to how easy it is going to be to cook it. To a hot pan, add a little Olive oil and let the pan heat up. Now throw in the garlic pieces and saute them for about a minute, add the leeks to it and let them turn light green in color. Make sure that none of these ingredients turn golden brown. Now are the mash potatoes and after a good stir and a little of water and mix all the 3 ingredients well. Lid it for about 5 mins.
Now I chose to whisk it once with an electric blender and form an even...err...soup. Add the dash of cream with salt and Pepper.
Enjoy :)

Tangy Porl Salami Soup

This is what happens to me when I am at the super market:
"wow, they have basil today...damn the fennel looks good...leek! hmm...lets see what I can experiment that with...hey! lets try something layered...oki, now I see so many colors *pointing at the purple cabbage and the yellow chillies*...kiwies look a like a rat from the outside, but the gorgeous inside could be used as the topping for a pure white vanilla frosting!...and on an on..." So in this entire riot of thought episode, I finally narrowed down to 'pork salami cooked in tangy clear soup'. Here it goes:
Ingredients:
60 gms of pork salami
6 large pods of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbl spoons of chopped spring onions
some florets of broccoli
1/4 cup of chopped purple cabbage
4 oyster mushrooms, chopped
1/2 a stick of leek, finely chopped
2 tbl spoons of balsamic vinegar and two strands of purple kale
Process:
Saute the chopped garlic in a hot pan with a generous serving of olive oil. When turned slightly brown, add the spring onions, broccoli, purple cabbage, mushrooms and leeks. Stir the veggies and let it cook till you see that the broccoli is near about cooked (cause that would take the longest). Now add 2.5 cups of water and that the chopped pieces of pork salami (I prefer chopping them with in an elongated fashion). lid them up till you notice them 'boil'. Now add the balsamic vinegar and some pepper according to your taste. Leave it covered for about a 2 mins (stove not on high heat).
Well I added the strands of kale on top and they sank...but they sure add to the riot of colors in there. Enjoy your soup with garlic bread :)

Kheema

When we saw some minced mutton sitting in my fridge (thanks dad), we just had to make something out of it. Well it was easy since we were reading 'The F word' by Mita Kapur we were itching to make some mutton myself, desi style of course. Advantage us, since we had a lot of whole spices at our disposal. Upsi is not a huge mutton fan, but this one turned out pretty good, even if we must say so :)
Ingredients:
250 gm kheema (minced mutton)
2 sticks cinnamon
4 cloves
4 cardomom
1 tb sp oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 tomatoes pureed
1 tb sp garam masala
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp jeera (cumin) powder
salt to taste
coriander leaves and finely chopped green chillies for garnish
Method:
Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan. Saute the whole spices till they release their oh-so-wonderful flavours (basically for a minute or two). Tip in the onions and saute till brown. Add the kheema and cook for about 5 minutes. Now add the powdered spices, pureed tomatoes and salt and let it cook for another 10 minutes. At this point it's pretty much done. Keep checking just to be sure. You'll know it's done when the kheema changes color. Turn of heat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves and finely chopped green chillies.
Serve piping hot with warm rotis/nans/bread/whatever!
Minced meat.....desi style!

'...some Basil Chicken'

Well, there were left over Basil leaves from the margherita pizza so decided come up with something quick and different. As for me, coming up with new dishes is more like a challenge we put on ourselves :) and my inspiration is to cook such stuff would be to be able to put something on the table with the least bit of ingredients involving the least cooking time! So here it is :
Ingredients:
250 gms of Boneless chicken
4 tbl spoons of olive oil
2 tbl spoons of regular italian seasonings
One Basil leaf for each piece of chicken
4 tbl spoons of honey
Process:
Marinate the meat with the Itaian Seasonings and 2 tbl spoons of oilive oil with a pinch of salt. Keep aside for 20 mins.
Now to a hot pan add 2 tbl spoons of olive oil and grill the chicken on the pan till they turn into that golden brown that we love. Now stick a basil leaf on every chicken piece and delicately glaze it with honey with the help of a cooking brush. Let it cook for 1-2 mins. Season with salt and pepper....and...well enjoy them with some mustard sauce.

'Khapa' ...a chicken preparation from the Garo Hills

This was a learning during my visit to Assam a year ago. It is primarily a dish cooked in the Garo Hills in the North Eastern part of our country. My aunt follows the instructions to the tee to cook this dish. But believe you me, I couldn't possibly get myself to cook it the same way. You will know why...keep reading on.
Ingredients:
250 gms chicken
200 gms of Green Chilli
2 large pinch of cooking soda with salt to taste
Process:
Grind the entire bunch of green chillies to get a smooth paste, add the chicken and then keep aside for about 20 mins. (Well the deal is that you are supposed use the same quantity of green chilli as that of Chicken! so yea..I couldn't follow the instructions to the tee). Now in a hot wok, throw in the green chilli paste with the boneless chicken. Do not add any water or oil, hence you got to make sure that you are going to lid the preparation and wait around for the pieces to have been cooked evenly. Now add the large pinch of cooking soda into the wok and let it cook for a min or two.
Yes, you are done...I mean...cooking...serve it with plain boiled white rice :)

Choco Christmas

Holiday season was in the air, and for me thats just incomplete if I havent snuggled up and watch two movies back to back, read a book and enjoyed a gooood chocolate comfort dish. Well, so our very own cool Pallavi comes up with a chocolate pudding which just melted in the mouth. I garnished it the top with a tiny christmas tree planted comfortably in the white cream flower from the oreo cookies.
Thanks Pallavi.