Snow and Snowflake Cookies!

It's been snowing and how!! Munich looks so beautiful covered by a blanket of snow. It's picture perfect.

Also, perfect weather to go out to the beautiful, colourful Christmas markets. Almost every neighborhood has its own Christmas market, some are small, some are big, but what is really common is the festive atmosphere. 

One can smell Christmas in the air. The local sweets, Christstollen (German fruit n nut cake), Lebkuchen (German ginger bread), Baumkuchen etc and not to forget the Ghühwein ( Mulled Wine) combined with berries, apples... A cup of Glühwein in the Christmas market to beat this very chilly weather is a treat.

This recipe is taken from a German Christmas baking book. It's called Schneeflöckchen literal translation in English is Snowflakes. I think this is the best time to bake these cookies. I can see the beautiful and soft snow flakes from my kitchen window and also in my kitchen Oven :-)

Ingredients

250 grams - unsalted butter at room temperature
100 grams - castor sugar
2 - vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped
120 grams - all purpose flour / weizenmehl 405
250 grams - cornstarch / speisestärke
100 grams - castor sugar to sprinkle over the cookies

Method

1. Beat the 100 grams of castor sugar, soft butter and vanilla seeds together into a fluffy paste.
2. Add the cornstarch and the flour to the butter mixture and knead into a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 3 parts and form rolls with a 3cms diameter. Keep the rolls in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C and line a baking tray with a baking paper. 
4. Take out the rolls from the refrigerator, cut each roll into 20 pieces, roll each piece into a ball and flatten it slightly and give a fork impression on the center of each cookie and place them on the lined baking tray, spaced well apart.
5. Place the tray in the centre of the preheated oven and bake approx for 12-15 minutes. 
6. Transfer the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely and then sprinkle the castor sugar over the cookies.

Makes - 60 cookies

Enjoy!

Momos with spicy tomato dip

It's been really long since I've updated the blog but finally I got my mojo back and hope to blog regularly. A warm hug to all of you for your mails and concern. I am hale and hearty, was just a little occupied with other activities in my life. I conducted a cooking course, "Modern Indian Cooking" and that kept me really busy. This was my first step, going in front of the people and teaching them what I love doing and am passionate about. The course went really well and that's a huge motivation.

I made momos a few days ago, when it snowed here. Yes, the first snow of the season, which is always a happy sight for me. We took a stroll in the neighborhood. 

Isn't it beautiful!! I love snow! I love these cold days! I am a winter baby :-)

Ingredients

For the Momo Wrapper
1 cup - all purpose flour
1/4 tsp - salt
1 tsp - sunflower oil 
water to knead the dough 


For the Filling
1/2 cup - onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup - capsicum, finely chopped
1/2 cup heaped - brown mushrooms, finely chopped
1/3 cup heaped - carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup heaped - zucchini, finely chopped
2 tsp - light soya sauce
2 tsp - chili sauce
1/8 cup - coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp - ginger, peeled and grated
1 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil
salt and pepper to taste


For the Dip
2 - tomatoes, medium sized
1/3 cup - onions
1/4 cup - capsicum green coloured
1 - green chili (optional)
1 1/2 tbsp - ginger, peeled
1 tbsp - lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp - coriander leaves 

Method


For the Filling

1. Heat the oil in to a non stick pan, add the onions and saute for a couple of minutes,on medium heat add the garlic and saute again for a minute.
2. Add the mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, ginger and capsicum and cook on medium heat until soft.
3. Add the sauces, salt, pepper and coriander leaves and cook for a couple of minutes. Keep aside.

For the Dip
Put all the ingredients in a mixer and grind coarsely. 

For the Momo wrapper

1. Add the salt and flour into a bowl. Add the oil and mix. Add water gradually and knead well to make a hard dough.Knead for a couple of minutes.
2. Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 30 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions.
4. Roll out each portion into a 8 cm diameter circle to make a even momo wrapper.
5. Put approx 1 tbsp of the filling in the centre of the momo wrapper.
6. Apply the water along the edges and fold over to make a semi circle.
7. Pinch at the outer rim.
8. Repeat with the remaining momo wrappers.
9. Arrange the momos in a greased steamer plate and steam for 5 minutes on high heat and 7-8 minutes on medium heat.
10. Serve hot with the dip.

These momos are easy to make and taste really good. Perfect for the season.

Enjoy!

Thai Red Vegetable Curry and off to Thailand for 2 weeks!!!

I am about to leave for our much awaited holiday to Thailand. What better than sharing a curry recipe from that region to kick off the vacation? This recipe is also from my drafts treasure...

Well, this is my take on the traditional Red Thai Curry. I have made this curry a number of times and have never been dissapointed. Hope you like it too.

I am looking forward to this trip and hoping to have wonderful culinary experiences, which I promise to share with you guys. 

Ingredients

For the paste 
2 piece - dry red whole chillies, deseeded
4 inch piece - ginger, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp - olive oil and very little water

To be boiled together
1 - carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup - french beans, thinly sliced
1/3 cup - babycorn, thinly sliced

Rest of the ingredients for the curry
1/2 cup - red or orange bell pepper
1/3 cup - pineapple, cut into small pieces
2-3 kaffir lime leaves
1 lemongrass, thinly sliced, (see here how to use lemongrass)
zest of a lemon
350 ml - coconut milk
salt to taste
3 tbsp - palm fat or any oil
1/4 cup - roasted peanuts
handfull of coriander leaves, finely chopped 


To garnish
coriander leaves and chives, finely chopped

Serve the curry with rice. I added the remaining lemongrass (upper stalk) to the rice while cooking and removed just before serving. It gives a very nice lemony flavour to the rice.

Method

1. Heat the palm fat in a non-stick pan and add the paste to the pan and saute on medium heat until the raw smell vanishes.
2. Add the peppers and lemongrass and cook again for a couple of minutes on medium heat. 
3. Add the boiled veggies and mix. 
4. Add the coconut milk, lime leaves, salt, lemon zest, 1/8 cup of the roasted peanuts and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionaly. 
5. Add the pineapples and coriander leaves and mix. 
6. Remove the curry from the heat, garnish it with the rest of the roasted peanuts, chives, coriander leaves and serve with rice.

Enjoy!

Pear Ginger Ravioli in Butter Sage Sauce

There are a lot of recipes lying in my drafts, waiting to be posted. I have promised myself not to create new ones before I post all what I have in the draft. This pasta dish is one such recipe which has been waiting long to see the light of day. What I remember vaguely is that the inspiration for this dish came from a local neighborhood Italian restaurant. My hubby went for a dinner with some colleagues and had this dish. The first thing he said after coming home, was "let's try making ravioli" Hence this recipe was born.

I have added semolina to the pasta dough, which gives the ravioli a very nice texture and slight crunch. This is quiet a rich pasta dish with all that butter sage sauce, so of course it tasted really good.

Ingredients

For the Ravioli

1 cup - all purpose flour 

1/4 cup - semolina (suji)

1/2 tsp - salt

4 tbsp - olive oil

water to knead 

Mix the flour and the semolina with the salt, the olive oil and enough water so that the dough is neither too soft nor too hard. Knead well. Cover with a wet piece of muslin cloth and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. The semolina should have soaked up most of the water, making the dough hard - so sprinkle a few drops of water and knead the dough lightly.

Divide the dough into 4 parts and flatten it out with your hand.Sprinkle some flour on the dough. Feed the flattened dough into the pasta machine at the thickest setting and roll it out 2-3 times until the dough is smooth. Take care to keep pulling the dough sheets form the machine at the same rate you are feeding it in. Change to a medium thickness and repeat another 2-3 times.

Finally, change to a thin / fine setting and let the dough pass through the pasta machine another 2-3 times. The dough should be a thin sheet by now. Do not worry if its irregular in shape or is broken in places.

Take a cookie cutter or a bowl with a sharp edge and cut out rounds from the dough. The dough left over form the corners can be kneaded and put through the machine again.

For the Filling

1 - pear, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tbsp - finely chopped candied ginger

1/2 tsp - butter

2 tsp - mascarpone cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pear pieces in the butter until slightly soft. Add in the mascarpone cheese, finely chopped candied ginger, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat.

Take the filling, lay it out on the center of a raviolo sheet, leaving an approx. 2 cm edge all around. Take another raviolo sheet, wet the edges with some water and press this sheet onto the sheet with the filling. Impress the edges with fork tines to make the sheets stick better as well as to give it a classic ravioli look.

Boil some water. Carefully lower the Ravioli into the boiling water. Let boil until the ravioli start floating (around 4-5 minutes for medium sized ones, slightly longer for bigger / thicker ones).

For the Sauce

50 grams (or more if you like) - butter

10 -12 pieces - sage leaves

a pinch of salt

parmesan cheese and pepper to garnish

 Put the butter and the sage leaves into a pan and heat until the butter melts completely (do not bring the butter to boil). Add a pinch of salt. Pour while still warm on the ravioli and garnish with grated parmesan and pepper. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Spicy Rice Starch-Tamarind Soup Mandiya - A traditional Rajasthani Dish

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a very relaxing and lazy weekend - watched a couple of movies, indulged in good food and it was simply amazing.

On Sunday, I made this very traditional Rajasthani dish: kaatha dal chawal-maandiya, literally translated, Thick Lentils and rice with this spicy tangy tamarind, rice starch Soup.

The Mandiya is lovely as a spicy soup or in a more traditional combination, as we had it, with the rice and the lentils- which makes a filling and very delicious meal. We normally mix 1/3rd thick dal and 2/3rd rice, with a generous helping of ghee and dip each spoonful in a bowl of the mandiya.

The lentils needs to be cooked in a little water with a couple of cloves, cardamom and cinnamon sticks, a bay leaf, a pinch of turmeric powder, salt and a tsp of ghee. The consistency of the lentils needs to be thick. If it is not, let the dal simmer in the pressure cooker without the lid and, after a couple of minutes, carefully remove the watery part from the top. (you can put this lentil water in the mandiya, instead of water)

Ingredients for the mandiya

1 tbsp - ghee 

2 - red whole chilli or according to your taste

2 pieces - bayleaf

a generous pinch of asafoetida, (hing)

2 pieces of green cardamom

2 pieces of clove

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp - mustard seeds

1/8tsp - cumin seeds

6-8 pieces of curry leaves

1/8 tsp - turmeric powder

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder, more or less

50 grams - tamarind soaked in 3/4 cup of warm water

450 ml - rice starch water (maand)

1 cup - water

2 tbsp - thick cooked lentils/daal (I used split pigeon peas/toor daal)

salt to taste

2 tsp - sugar

Method

1. Mash the soaked tamarind. Sieve the extract and use 1/2 cup for this recipe. (if kept in the fridge, tamarind pulp stays good for 4-5 days)
2. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red whole chili, asafoetida / hing, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick and let the seeds crackle. Add the curry leaves, turmeric powder and chilli powder, and cook for a few seconds. Add the tamarind extract and cook for a minute, stirring continuously.
3. Add the rice starch water, lentil water or normal water, 2 tbsp of the cooked thick lentils and salt to taste. Cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lastly add the sugar and cook again for a couple of minutes. Serve piping hot.

This is one of my favourite Rajasthani dishes and I can never have enough of it. 

Enjoy!