EVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: EASTER BREADS RECIPE: OSTERBROT, GERMAN EASTER BREAD Osterbrot, German Easter Bread is soft, fragrant, sweet and rich. Its the German version of Jewish Challah or the Italian Easter Bread. Enjoy the bread for breakfast or at teatime. Leftover bread can be made into a bread pudding or French Toast. Actually, didn’t have any leftover as we toasted the slices lightly and finished it off slathered with butter and marmalade. The bread stayed fresh at room temperature for 2 days. The remaining I stored in the fridge in an airtight container. A Bit About Easter Breads Many European Countries have a tradition of baking bread that is connected to Easter and Good Friday. The practise of eating sweetened bread as communion…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: A- Z RECIPE CHALLENGE THEME : AN INGREDIENT BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER V RECIPE: VANILLA PUDDING, EGG FREE What is Vanilla Pudding? So creamy, silky, delectable and easy to make. Dress Vanilla Pudding up with fruits, ginger snaps, chocolates or enjoy on its own. And so much better than ready made or prepackaged ones. Vanilla Pudding is a traditional dessert made from egg yolks, cornstarch, milk, sugar and vanilla. Some add a bit of butter, some don’t. For the egg free version, I’ve omitted eggs and instead added some cream. How is it different from Custard? Here, the reference is to the actual homemade custard and not the ones we make from flavored powder. Generally custard is made using egg yolks which is…
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Continue ReadingRECIPE: HOT CROSS BUNS Hot Cross Buns are sweet and spicy buns usually made with some dried fruit and is marked with a cross on top. Traditionally enjoyed on Good Friday, the buns also mark the end of Lent. These have a certain meaning. The cross represents the crucification of Jesus and the spices signifies the spices used to embalm the body of Him during burial. Nursery Rhyme Perhaps dating back to 1700s it is believed that bakers and their kids would shout out to customers to buy the freshly baked Hot Cross Buns. However, that song is practically stuck in my brains and come Easter Time, can’t help but sing it! Different Flavours These days its common to find different flavours…
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Continue ReadingRECIPE: BRAZILIAN CARROT CAKE Brazilian Carrot Cake is not only beautifully bright but so soft, moist, fluffy and divine. Drizzled with melted dark chocolate, it makes a perfect dessert or enjoy some with coffee. I’d come across the recipe years ago and had jotted it down. Then, had forgotten all about it. Generally, if I’m not with family for my birthday, it does not occur to my hubby to order a cake! I’d actually been dropping hints that there are quite a few ladies in our apartment complex who bake and sell cakes, one is my neighbor. However, come 20th Feb there is no cake! So the hunt for an easy peasy cake began as I knew my other neighbor’s kid would be expecting a…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: ROMANCE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY RECIPE: WATERMELON MOUSSE Watermelon Mousse Watermelon Mousse is a very light, refreshing, fruity, delicious dessert. Easy to make, its a perfect dessert to celebrate Valentine’s Day or to enjoy for a romantic evening. The first time I tried this recipe was sometime in Nov 2013. I prepared Watermelon Mousse for a family Sunday lunch. The best part of preparing this mousse, was that it was easy, had no eggs and different. Generally mousse is prepared with the more familiar fruits like mango, strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, etc. Hardly ever anyone thinks of using watermelon to prepare a dessert. My guests couldn’t believe that the mousse was made with watermelon. I posted the recipe on 12/11/2013 but the one…
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Continue ReadingChocolate Sesame Fudge Delectable, chocolatey and soft, Chocolate Sesame Fudge is a vegan take on the famous chocolate barfi or fudge. I replaced the ghee with olive oil. Also I have used homemade sesame seed paste. Not too sweet, Chocolate Sesame Fudge is different kind of sweet to enjoy during the Makar Sankranti festival. Don’t worry, the ‘must have’ sesame seeds and jaggery are included in the fudge. Happy Uttarayan/ Makar Sankranti/ Pongal Come fly a kite And watch it sail Across the sky, Waving its tail. By Jean Warren What is Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti Once again it Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti. Uttarayan is the Gujarati name for the festival celebrated all over…
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Continue ReadingEggfree Wheat Christmas Cake Eggfree Wheat Christmas Cake is full of soaked dried and candied fruits, nuts and spices. A vegetarian friendly cake made without any eggs. Also, no alcohol is used to soak the fruit. A Christmas Cake that is incredibly easy to make, flavorful and moist. I’ve been baking Eggfree Wheat Christmas Cake for several years but till now, was not able to put the recipe on my blog. Just as well as over the years subtle changes has resulted in a foolproof recipe. The changes I made is is replacing all purpose flour with wheat, replacing white sugar with brown. The types of dried fruits and candied fruits vary every year, depending on what is available. And I love to use my…
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Continue ReadingWhat are Orange Phirni Shots? In brief, Orange Phirni Shots are simply orange flavored phirni served in mini chocolate and pistachio fudge cups. Orange Phirni Shots is a fusion of an Indian Rice Pudding and Middle Eastern flavors. Some years back we had a one night transit stay in Doha and that’s where I had the opportunity to taste Sholeh Zard, a Persian Rice Pudding with an orange twist. As a result, that flavour remained etched in my brains. Generally, the rice pudding whether the Middle East version or the Indian version, is served on its own. So why the twist? Read on to find out. Participating in the International Recipe Contest First Round: This Competition, organized by Indrani Sen, is a different kind of…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #272 DIWALI RECIPE: SEV MUMRA What is Sev Mumra? Sev Mumra is basically an Indian Savory Snack that can be stored for at least a month. Generally, this snack is prepared in a large batch. Basically, there are two main parts to Sev Mumra – the Sev and Mumra. Both Sev and Mumra are mixed along with spices and add ons if one prefers to prepare a snack. Its usually enjoyed during tea time. I prefer making sev mumra compared to other fried snacks as only the sev is deep fried. The proportion of sev to mumra totally depends on your preference. We prefer more mumra to sev. What is Sev? Sev is fried noodle like savory prepared from chickpea flour(besan) and spices.…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: DIWALI SWEETS AND SAVOURIES RECIPE: KESAR RASGULLA What is Kesar Rasgulla? Kesar Rasgulla is a saffron flavored traditional sweet dish that is famous in the Indian Subcontinent. Kesar means saffron in Hindi. And Rasgulla is a sweet dumpling made from cottage cheese, paneer or chenna. The balls are rolled and then allowed o cook in a sugar syrup. The sugar syrup is usually flavored with cardamom and sometimes other ingredients like rose essence, rose petals, saffron, mint, chilli, etc are added. This adds a different flavour to the rasgulla. As a matter of fact, one is rasgulla and plural is rasgullas. Translated into simple language ras is juice and gulla is a ball. So actually rasgulla means a juicy ball.…
