Vanilla Pudding

Ingredients:
Whole milk- 3 and 1/2 cup or 840 ml,
White sugar ( granulated or powdered )-1/3 cup and 1/4 cup,
Cornstarch- 1/4 cup,
Eggs -2,
Egg yolk- 1,
Vanilla- 2 tsp,
Butter- 1 tbsp.

Method:
In a steel bowl whisk together 1/3 cup of sugar,cornstarch,egg and egg yolk.

Whisk in 1/2 cup ( 120 ) of the milk from 3 and 1/2 cup.

Set aside while you heat rest of the milk ( 3 cups ) and sugar  ( 1/4 cup )in a  heavy bottom pan on low heat and bring just to boil.

Have ready a fine medium sized strainer and a bowl.
Remove from heat and gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture ,whisking constantly,until the mixture is smooth.( do not pour the hot milk all at once- pour a little bit and then whisk and then gradually pour all )

Transfer the pudding mixture to the pan again and place over low heat.

Cook stirring constantly with a flat spatulla until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise ( 3 to 5 minutes ).

Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla essence.

Pour the pudding through a strainer to remove any lumps.

Quickly cover with a cling film to avoid the formation of film on the pudding unless you like it.

As it comes to room temperature,put in the fridge to set and cool.( 6 to 8 hours )

Before serving whisk the pudding with wire whisk ( optional ).

Serve cold with dallop of ice cream,fruit and nuts or nutella.

Serves 6 .

Coconut coriander chicken

 

Thanks Sunil for sharing this light and delicious recipe!

Ingredients:
Chicken - 1 kg,
Ginger paste or shredded-3/4 tbsp,
Garlic paste- 1 tbsp
Turmeric pwd- 3/4 tsp,
Salt- to taste,
Onion -2 big size finely chopped,
Big cardamom-2,
Small cardamom- 4,
Bay leaves-1 to 2,
Cumin or jeera seeds- 1 tsp,
Coconut milk- 1 cup.

To make paste-
Green coriander leaves- 1 cup chopped,
Green chilli -3 slit,

Ginger - 1 inch cut into small pieces to make grinding easy,
Fresh grated coconut -2 tbsp heaped.

Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp.

Note- This is a semi dry chicken recipe!

You will need 1 small coconut  ( water inside )to extract 1 cup of milk and 2 tbsp of grated coconut.
Breaking,scrapping the skin of the coconut and then grating the coconut is a little time consuming.
Before I never liked making any coconut recipe for the simple reason of breaking the coconut and the time it took to scrape the inside of it.
But now I know the trick to break open and separate out the hard shell.
You just knead a hammer and a screw driver and a small size coconut!
First take a screw driver and make a hole at the top of the coconut. It has 3 black tender spots on top and just insert the screw driver to make a hole and take out the water  from inside.
You can drink this water.
Next using a hammer ! 
Hammer at the center  of the coconut all around ,and the shell will break open.
Keep hammering the hard shell till the inside of the coconut separate too or you can separate it with a knife.
Scrape the soft brown skin with a peeler or knife and then grate the coconut.

Once the coconut is grated,leaving aside 2 tbsp of coconut for the paste.
The rest of the grated coconut is put  in the blender with 1 cup of water.
Coarsely grind for few seconds ( do not make a paste ).
Sieve through a strainer to extract the fresh milk out of the fresh coconut.Press and extract the maximum.
The left out dry coconut can be used for stuffing or just mix it with the dough ( Sunil's idea ).
I mixed a little sugar and made stuffed parathas and it was delicious!

Method-
Extract the coconut milk from the coconut and keep aside.
Marinate the chicken with turmeric pwd,ginger garlic paste and salt.

Rub it around the chicken and leave it to marinate for 1/2 hour at room temperature while
you make the preparation.

Finely chop the onions and make a paste of green chillis,green coriander leaves ,ginger and grated coconut adding a small amount of water.

Keep aside the paste.

Heat oil in a non stick kadhai and as oil heats up,add the whole spices - cumin seeds,big cardamom,small cardamom,cinnamon stick and bay leaves.

As cumin seeds crackle,add the finely chopped onions.

The onions just need to be soft and translucent.

Add the marinated chicken and stir fry on high heat for 10 minutes.

Keep stirring as the chicken will have brown spots after 10 minutes.

Lower the heat to medium and add the coconut coriander paste with 1/4 cup water (  rinse the  blender  with 1/4 cup of water after taking the paste out of the container and use it in the cooking)

Stir for 30 seconds  and then add the coconut milk and salt.

Mix and let it come to boil.

Lower the heat to low and put a lid on.

Let it simmer and cook till chicken is tender ( depends on the size of the chicken- 20 to 25 minutes )

This is a semi dry chicken dish!
The coconut gravy will be thicken as it cools.

Goes very well with hot rotis!

Bharwa Karela

This is my neighbour Rajbala's recipe!
I had never made bharwa karela before,but thanks to Rajbala ji,got a good recipe.

Since it is standard reply when you ask for a recipe is pyaz bhunno ,masale dalo ,phir tamatar aur ho gaya.
But here my nice neighbour has given the trial in my kitchen,cooking patiently and teaching me not to hurry while cooking.
Food tastes better if cooked in low heat.
Since thick thread is required to bind the karelas,and I had the  thin sewing thread.
She went  home and brought the thick anchor thread and gave an extra bundle for further use.
Well the trial was 2 weeks back,yesterday small size karelas were available in store and so finally I made the bharwa karela today.
It has turned out well.
I have used raw mango as advised by Rajbala ji instead of dry mango powder.

Method:
Karela or bitter gourd - 500 gms - small to medium,but not large nor very small- 3 inch size,
Onion- 4 - grated,
 Garlic- 1 whole pod- minced- ( small pod ),
Ginger - 2 inch - minced or paste,

Aniseed or saunf - 1 tsp,
Coriander pwd- 1 tsp,
Cumin pwd- 1 tsp,
Turmeric pwd- 1/4 tsp,
Red chilli pwd- 1/2 tsp,
Achar masala- 2tsp or you can use any pickle paste or masala of any pickle,
Garam masala pwd- 1/2 tsp,
Raw mango - 1/2  or use dry mango pwd - 1tsp.
Mustard oil - 4 tbsp,
Salt to taste.

Method :
Wash and discard the stem if any.
With a small knife ,scrape the outer rough skin of each karela.

Make a cut in the center,leaving the ends intact.

Using a small spoon,scrape out the seeds and pulp.

Discard the seeds and pulp and wash the karelas.
Sprinkle 1 and 1/4 tsp of salt on the karelas,to take out the bitterness.

Leave it covered for an hour.

Wash the karelas with running water to wash out the salt and squeeze out the water.

Heat 4 tbsp of oil in a non stick kadhai.

As oil heats up,add the karelas  in batches and lightly stir fry them till they are evenly brown on all sides.

Lower the heat to medium while frying.

Take out the stir fried karelas on a plate.

Take out 1 tbsp of oil from the kadhai and keep aside.

Press the grated onion between your palm to squeeze out the excess water ( makes browning faster).

Add 1 tsp of aniseeds or saunf in the hot kadahi.

As the seeds brown,add the grated onions.

Stir fry the onions in medium heat till they are light brown.

Add the minced garlic and ginger paste or mince.

Lower the heat and bhunno them for a minute.
Add turmeric pwd and keep the heat low.

Stir for 30 seconds.
Add coriander pwd,cumin pwd, red chilli pwd.

Stir the masala for 1/2 a minute in low heat and then add the pickle masala and cook for another 1/2 minute.

Since the amount of onion is so much and oil is very little,you have to just keep stirring the spices to cook them evenly and from the aroma you will get to know that the spices are evenly browned.
If you are using mango pwd add now or  add the squeezed raw mango and salt according to taste.

Take a handful of grated mango ( 2 tbsp )  and squeeze out the excess water before adding.

Mix and add garam masala.
Keep the heat low and stir to evenly mix.
Taste and you can add the seasoning according to your taste.
I have added 1 tbsp more of grated mango and  a little salt.

Cook for 30 seconds more for the mango to evenly mix with the onion mix.

Close gas.
You can fill the karela with the filing right away ,or wait for few minutes to cool a bit.
Roughly fill the karelas with the filling ,so that all the karelas are filled.

 I was not sure if my masala would be enough or excess ,but it turned out exact.
With thick anchor thread tie all the karelas so that masalas don't spill out.

Heat the kadhai with one tbsp oil ,which was kept aside.

Place the filled karelas and then lower the heat and put a lid on for five minutes.

In between turn the karelas so that both sides are evenly cooked.
Close gas after 5 minutes.

Remove the lid and leave it  in the kadhai for 5 minutes to make it more crisp.

Best with plain roti.

I like to eat it as a wrap.

It can be kept in the fridge for several days.