Not-in-a-mood >> Fish Stir Fry

I was in no mood to cook. Decided whatever needs to be done, will have to be in half an hour. So this was the result. What do you think?

Coat 250 -500  gms fish with salt and turmeric. 

Pour 2 tablespoons oil and add the fish when oil is hot. Let it brown on both sides. Push aside the fish pieces and in the centre where some oil remains (add a little if its too less), add 1 spoon of coriander powder, 1/2 tsp of chilly powder, 1 tsp garlic crushed, 1-2 tablespoon tomato ketchup, 1/4 tsp soya sauce, 2-3 slit green chillies. Mix the mixture and coat the fish pieces with it. garnish with coriander.

Serve as a side with rice.

Haven't been cooking much. Will be back soonish :-)!

The Rocks, yet again!

So, I was at The Rocks again. This time it was a prelude to my Birthday. I love The Rocks so much, that I would, if I could set up a permanent stall there and sell hot Kochuris to this absolutely delightful crowd that throngs it on Friday through Sunday. Some day perhaps. :D

I stopped by at the Museum of Contemporary Art to see the latest exhibition and then headed to the Rocks Market. The Rocks is indeed something else in Winters. Besides, it was a great day with the sun out, and a band playing. The little cafes and restaurants had a lot of interesting menus on display. One menu said- ‘quick 30 minute three plate lunch.’ The Guyllian cafe looked as inviting as ever.

(I still cannot believe I went without my camera. And my Iphone had very little charge left. So, anyway, managed to click a few pictures. )

I began with a mug of Shandy at Lowenbrau, my absolute fav place at The Rocks.

And then, I just had to attack the food stalls, without any further delay!

 I started with steamed King Prawn Dim Sum. It wasn’t out of the world. However, because it was being freshly made and was piping hot, it was good.

 

Decided to settle for some Gozleme for the main course - stuffed Spinach, cheese and chicken Gozleme. Piping hot, straight out of the pan. Mind blowing.

Next time I go without my camera, I’ll give up blogging. Arrgh.

 

  The Kyoza looked very appealing. But I had to keep good spoace in the tummy for a visit to Guyllian’s for dessert!

  Olive Oil on Display. Can’t remember the estate they came from. Have you tried tasting different oils? Its a lot of fun.

And while I was busy devouring the Gozleme, this band went on with Eagle’s - ‘when we’re hungry, love will keep us alive’. It was kinda funny :-)

And now for the 100% pure pleasure :D. By the time it came to my table my phone was dead. All said and done, next time around rocks, you must hit GUillians and have their 100% Pure Pleasure Dessert!

So, when are you planning a visit to The Rocks? Chances are you’ll find me there too, soon :D

Petite N Pretty>> Mini Carrot Cup Cakes

My 4 year old hates veggies. She can go to any length to avoid eating her portion of vegetables – she is perfectly capable of  looking furtively around and if the coast is clear, walk as quietly as a cat and chuck her bit in the garbage bin. :D

I had to do something. I manage giving her spinach by pureeing it and adding it to chicken curry and lentils. But carrot had to be disguised beautifully. A simple orange looking cake won’t deceive her. She is far too intelligent to not see through the trick. So I had to bake these fancy looking ones. No rocket science this- just bought decorations and made chocolate frosting on these mini cups.

 

 

 

You’ll need:

1 and 3/4 to 2 cups self-raising flour

1 and1/2 cups of brown castor sugar 

1 and 1/2 cups grated carrot (you can add more- depending on you ‘carrot tolerance meter’)

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 pinches of nutmeg

2 pinches of salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 300f.

Sift the flour with cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix with a hand blender/mixer sugar and vegetable oil for about 30 seconds , then add eggs to it. Mix a little more. Add the grated carrot and mix further. Add the flour slowly and mix until all ingredients blend completely.

Spoon batter to little cup cake moulds or pour into a lined cake tin and bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes (for cupcakes), for 40 mins (if a full cake) or until browned (and do the fork/stick test!)

Cool on rack and decorate as you wish with M&Ms, marshmallows or cream cheese frosting. I had come chocolate pre-mix frosting in the pantry, so used that. But carrot cakes go best with cream cheese frosting.

Needless to say, she gobbled them all up!

Winter Wonder >> Cream of Asparagus Soup for the tormented soul

 

…and R would ask, why? To torment the soul more? Hahahaha!! He hates even the sound of Asparagus, While I continue to spread my love for all exotic sounding vegetables. I think Asparagus is one of the most delicate and subtle tasting vegetables and it looks great too :). Tried making a soup out of it to beat the winter chill, not to mention the flu. Been 2 days now, and I am so done with sneezing and wheezing. The soup lifted my spirits though. Had it with lots of pepper while piping hot. Try it, if you have the appetite for it.

 

Sauté 8-10 stems of cut Asparagus along with one chopped onion in a tsp of Olive oil. Add one pod of garlic to this and season with salt. In about 5 minutes, when the onions are done, pour a glass of vegetable stock/chicken stock and simmer until the Asparagus is very tender . Puree in a blender  (don’t add the stock to the blender, only the onions and Asparagus), bring back to the pan to add the stock kept aside, 2-3 tbsp of thick cream or 1/4 cup milk and a dash of lemon juice. Serve piping hot!

 

And btw, you just can’t ignore the health benefits of this wonder vegetable. Read all about it here.

Friday Feast >> Lime and Lemony Glazed Cheesecake

Baking proved yet again to be my best buddy on a wintery bored afternoon. Besides, it was Friday. And we were having our neighbours over for dinner. We were doing a takeaway for main course anyway, so I had some time to indulge in creating a pretty looking dessert! Yaay!

I’ve always wanted to make a cheesecake and had plenty of recipes to bank on. Only when I started looking through them did I realise that there are two basic versions of a Cheesecake in general- baked and unbaked. The unbaked version uses gelatin to set it unlike the baked one. I had little time on hand to try the unbaked version, that required at least 8 hours to set. Though its said that it sets best when refrigerated overnight. So I decided to try out the baked version. I wasn’t unhappy with the results at all!! It turned out absolutely wonderful! I have to thank Kushi, my friend who inspired me to make one, though the recipe she shared with me was an unbaked one. Will try that out next time. Until then, try this! Lets feast on the pictures before we get to the recipe, ok?

 

 

 

 Ingredients:

For the filling

Cream Cheese – 500 gms

Mascarpone cheese- 250 gms

Castor Sugar : 180  gms

Eggs- 4

Lemon Juice – 4 table spoons cup (I used Lime straight from our backyard :-) )

Lemon zest – 3 tsps

flour – 3 tbsps

1 packet- digestive/Marie biscuit crushed

Butter (melted) – 100 gms

 

For the Glaze

Sugar- 1/2 cup

Lemon juice- 1/3 cup

Cornstarch – 1  and 1/2 tbsps

egg yolk- 1

Lemon zest – 2 tsps

water – 3/4 cup

 

Method: Am so glad i took pictures!

 

1. Pour melted butter to the crushed biscuits and mix well to resemble breadcrumbs. Lightly grease springform tin and press the mixture firmly to the base. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, beat all the eggs and sugar for a few minutes. Add the cream cheese and Mascarpone and beat further. Add the zest, juice in the end and blend until it looks creamy and smooth. Note, the cream cheese must be at room temperature else, its very difficult to blend.

 

3.Preheat oven to 160 degrees.  Pour the filling mixture into the biscuit base  and bake it for 45 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack.

 

 

Once it cools, refrigerate it.

In about an hour, make the glaze.

1. Mix cornstarch and sugar. Place on a saucepan on low heat.

2. In a separate cup mix well the yolk, lime juice and water. Add that to the saucepan and slowly bring the mixture to a boil. Stir continuously and let the mixture thicken. Add the zest and once thick, turn off stove. Let it cool. Once at room temp, spoon over the cheesecake and refrigerate it back till it sets over.

 

 

Refrigerate for a couple of hours and serve in style. I wish I had used some green lemon rind or Kiwi fruit to decorate, it would look better.

Do leave a comment and lemme know if you liked this recipe!

Bon appetite!

Happiness is >> A crisp crust and a gooey chocolaty warm walnut brownie with ice cream!

Made this over the weekend. Took these images only a day later and did not microwavew the brownie and hence you can;t see the real texture of it- the gooey center, especially. Nevertheless, it came out just right.

Used this recipe.

A lil peak into KG’s kitchen

 

:)