Pasta Pradhaman

Curious?? Believe me it tastes awesome!! I think i have the copyright of this recipe since i haven't found any similar recipe on net till now..If anyone had already tried this recipe please let me know your experience..

Its weird that it struck me one night 'Why there's no payasam or kheer  recipe with pasta?' I asked my husband who was next to me..he just smiled and said "welcome to the family" (coz my mother-in-law is a pro in experimenting different ingredients for known recipes e.g. sakkarai pongal with wheat rava). 

We decided to try out a kheer recipe with pasta. Ada pradhaman was one of the recipes that was in my to-try-out list, but i was postponing it since it seemed complicated preparing ada with banana leaves. So I thought this would be a good experiment to try out ada pradhaman (of course pasta in the place of ada).

It really came out well than we expected..but its a rich dessert, so calorie-conscious foodies beware.

Things you need:

Pasta - cooked couple of minutes above al dente - 1 cup (I used macaroni since it is bite-sized. If using other pasta its a good idea to roughly chop them after cooking) 

Thick coconut milk - 1 cup

Thin coconut milk - 2 cups

Jaggery - 1 cup
Ghee - 3 tbsp

Cashews and raisins - for garnishing

Serves 3-4 people

Method:

Step 1:
Prepare syrup by melting the jaggery in half cup of water and bringing it to a boil. Once the jaggery is melted, turn off the stove and strain the jaggery for removing impurities if any.

Step 2:
Pour two tbsp of ghee in a heavy pan. when the ghee heats up, add the cooked pasta and fry for a minute and
then pour the jaggery syrup. Cook the pasta in the syrup for 5-7 minutes.

Step 3:
Add the thin coconut milk to the mixture and simmer it till the mixture thickens. Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a frying pan and fry the cashews and raisins.

Step 4:
When the mixture gets thick, add the thick coconut milk, and stir for a couple of minutes. There's no need to cook it for a long time. Before switching off the stove, stir in the cashews and raisins with the remaining ghee.
It tastes heaven when served in room temperature or chilled.

It takes a very little time since pasta cooks in 10-15 mins and the pradhaman takes another 15-20 mins.

Have a bite (or a bowl maybe)!!!

Salmon Wellington

I am so fond of these cooking channels..whether I cook all the recipes they show, that's a different thing. But I like to watch them and use some of their tips, and experiment with their recipes using my own ingredients...
I was watching one of such programs run by my favorite host. She was preparing a dish called beef wellington with some potatoes and a salad. The ingredients were very simple and the recipe was mouth watering but for one thing..beef!! I don't cook or eat beef, so i thought that this might be one of the 'jus watch n enjoy' recipes. But the host gave an idea towards the end of the show, that this recipe can also be cooked with salmon or chicken..wow!! those were like magic words for me..

I told about this recipe to my husband. I just knew what words would pop out from his mouth the next minute..let's do it!! and that's what he said..
We decided to start off with salmon. Whenever I tried to marinade and fry salmon it would change into a hard rock salmon once it is cooled..and I tried an alternate method (quoted by my husband after he watched a cooking show). I shallow fried the salmon for couple of minutes and then baked it for a few minutes..viola!! the salmon turned really soft..
So i knew this recipe would turn fine with salmon since it includes baking..
Over to the recipe..
Things you need:
Salmon fillets - 2 (each one the size of your palm)
Puff pastry sheet - 1 (I used pepperidge farm brand)
Onion - 1
Button mushrooms - 10 (can also use some greens like watercress or spinach)
chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
coriander leaves - two sprigs
salt as needed
oil- for sauteing vegetables and shallow frying fish
egg wash - optional (one egg beaten with some water)

For marinade:
chilli powder - 1tbsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
salt as needed
lemon juice - 1tsp

Serves 2 people

Method:
Step 1:
Clean the fish fillets and wipe it dry with a paper towel. Marinade the fish with the marinade ingredients and rest it in the refrigerator for atleast an hour. Thaw the puff pastry sheet to room temperature.

Step 2:
Finely chop the onions and thinly slice the mushrooms. Pour some oil in a pan and saute the onions, ginger garlic paste and the mushrooms in order. When  mushrooms turn soft, add turmeric powder, chilli powder coriander powder and salt. Close the lid and cook the vegetables into a thick gravy.

Step 3:
Shallow fry the fish fillets for a couple of minutes on each side. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Divide the thawed puff pastry sheet into four sections. Cut each fish fillets into two. Place some mushroom onion gravy on each puff pastry section, then place the fish on top of the vegtables, cover the sheet from all the sides, and brush with some egg wash. When all the wellingtons are finished, place them on a greased baking dish covered side down. Brush the remaing egg wash on the top side of the wellingtons, and bake them for 20-30 mins or until they turn brown.

The next step is the step they take into your tastebuds!!! ENJOY

Tiramisu

Yummmmmy!!!! Thats the first word that comes to my mouth when I hear the word 'tiramisu'.  hope it would be same for most of the world's population (the rest of them wouldnt have tasted it yet!). Me and my husband do have sweet tooth (or should i say teeth??) and wanted to try different dessert recipes at home. But we try the hardest ones only when we r having guests..who else can be the non-complaining test specimens?(he he he!!)
So it happened that a friend of my husband came to visit us for christmas..and we were planning about the food we were about to make during his visit..and my husband suddenly asked 'what if we made tiramisu for dessert?' i was like "what? r u serious?".. but by the look on his face i knew he was, and we got a guest to test...way to go!

I checked some recipes from authentic to variations of tiramisu recipes, and did a mix and match for my own tiramisu recipe..here's mine
Things u need:
8 oz mascaporne cheese
1 cup heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
6 egg yolks (u can scramble the egg whites with little salt 'n' pepper and snack it while making tiramisu..wow!! what a great idea!)
3/4 cup sugar (preferably powdered)
1 pack ladyfingers
2 shots of espresso or coffee liquor like kahlua
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
13"x9" dish
a whisk
spatulas

20-24 servings
note: All the items should be in room temperature (cheese, cream, egg and cofee)

Step 1:
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a double boiler (I placed a pan with the yolk and sugar mixture into another wide pan with boiling water on stove top), until the mixture turns bright yellow color and to custard consistency. Remove from the boiler and allow it to slightly cool.

Step 2:
Whisk the heavy cream or heavy whipping cream until it forms a stiff peak..i.e if you lift the whisk a peak of cream should form and should not curl back. If you are using heavy whipping cream you would get the peak sooner, so be careful not to overwhisk.

Step 3:
Mix the egg custard with the mascarpone cheese and gently fold in the cream..This is the stage you should bring in your self control and stop yourself from gobbling up the cheese mixture..ur destination is couple of steps away...

Step 4:
Dip each ladyfinger sugar-side down in the coffee/kahlua just once and arrange it in the dish to form a base layer..(you can dilute the coffee/kahlua if you think its too strong for you)

Step 5:
Using a spatula, spread half of the cheese mixture on the ladyfingers layer carefully. Repeat step 4 to form a top layer and spread remaining cheese mixture. Dust the cocoa powder above the cheese layer (you can use a tea strainer for this..works great!!!)

Hmm Hmm...not yet!! Allow it to sit in the refrigerator overnight or in your countertop for atleast five hours, and then there's no one standing between you and your delicious tiramisu



Enjoy!!! (I'm thinking what my 2 year old daughter would respond to this..um um um deliciouso!! as she always say..she dosent like sweets anyway..so it would come right out of her mouth in a second..lol)