Homemade Kulfis- Badam Kulfi

This simple recipe yields one of the yummiest kufis ever. I couldn't wait till the kufis were frozen and just drank down the mixture right away.

Ingredients

Condensed Milk - 1 can
Evaporated Milk – 1 can (equal portions of condensed and evap. milk)
Heavy Whipping Cream – 2 cups
Almonds - 1/2
Pistachios(optional) - 1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Saffron (Optional )
Popsicle cones/Ice Cream cones

1.Grind 3/4 of the almonds until it becomes a nice soft powder.
2. Grind the remaining almonds coarsely(to small bits).
3. Beat the condensed, evaporated milk and the whipping cream in a blender for about 5 mins, then add the almond powder and beat for another minute or so.
4.Transfer the contents to a bowl and whip the mixture and add the almond bits and a tbsp of cardamom. This will give a nice crunchy texture to the kulfi.
5. Fill the ice cream cones with this and freeze for atleast 6 hours.

Serving.
Once the kulfiisz are frozen, take out and thaw for 10 mins. Alternatively, you can also dip the cone's bottom into warm water. This makes it easier to take the cones out.

If you dont' have ice cream cones, can just freeze it in any freeze resistant container and scoop it with a ice-cream scoop.

Mango Kulfi
You can add Mago Kesar pulp to the mixture to get a tasty mago kulfi.

Millaga Bajii/Chilli Fritters

Nothing can beat the Millaga baji's at Chennai beaches.
This is just an attempt to make something vaguely similar to those. I used Anaheim chilli peppers for these. to my dismay, I realized didn't have a kadai big enough to hold a whole chilli and had to cut it into half :(

Ingredients
Anaheim Chilli peppers - 4
Gram flour - 15 tbsp
All purpose flour- 1 tbsp
Baking powder -a pinch
Chilli powder - 11/2 tbsp
Salt

1. Boil water with salt and soak the chillies for 5 mins
2. Heat oil in a kadai
3. Make a thick batter for gram flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and chilli powder salt.
4. Dip the chillies and fry
5. Serve with ketchup or chutneys

Easy Crustless Quiche for breakfast - All veggie

The "La Quiche" french bakery here, is our favorite hang-out spot and they have the best Almond butter croissants around. Next to that ranks their quiche, especially the Spinach Quiche.

Since I like copying my favorites to my kitchen, I googled for an easy quiche recipe and ended up with this one. It is really easy to make and makes a wonderful breakfast on weekends. You can use any combination of ingredients here - vegetables, olives, pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms. The list is endless and limited by your creativity alone.

What you need

Muffin pans

Eggs - 4
Milk - 3/4 cup
Fresh Cheddar cheese grated - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour -1 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Salt and Pepper

Vegetables that I used
Carrots- 2 (finely grated)
Cabbage - grated 1/2 cup
Spinach - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Shallots - 3

1. Preheat the oven to 350'
2. Saute the vegetables to make them soft. Dry saute without oil should be enough
3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk and then add the cheddar cheese, salt and pepper, all purpose flour. Mix all together and lets call this batter.

4.Grease the muffin pan with a little butter
5. Add a sponful of vegetables and then add the batter till the brim on all the pans.
6.Bake for 20 mins, or until the top of the quiche becomes a little brown.
7. Allow it to cool once done.
8. Taking the quiche out of the muffin pan without breaking is a trick. I used a tooth to scoop the outer surface and then a curved spoon to take it out.
9. Enjoy with Tabasco sauce

Chicken Lollipop

Ma most favorite chicken dish.



The recipe follows the below video to the most part, with a bit of personal touches here and there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAwUCvm5egg

Chicken wing drumettes - 10

Eggs -2
All purpose flour/Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Bread crumps -5 tbsp
Chilli powder- 1 tbsp
Salt
Oil - for deep fry


Ginger - 1 inch finely chopped
Garlic - 5 finely chopped
Chilli Garlic paste - 1tbsp
Soy Sauce - 2 tbsp

1. Wash and scoop the chicken wings to look like a lollipop, so that there is more flesh at the top and just the bone at the bottom.
Will add pictures of this later
2. Take a medium sized bowl. Add eggs, chilli powder and salt, beat it and dip the wings. Allow this to sit for a while.
3. Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying. Rub the wings in the bread crumbs and deep fry in the oil.
4. Take another kadai ,heat 1 tbsp of oil. Add the ginger and garlic and then the chilli garlic paste and then the soy sauce.
5. I also added a bit of red color powder at this point and probably 3 tbsp of water
6. Add the fried chicken pieces to this mixture and coat well
7. Wrap with aluminum foil and serve

Mutton Kuzhambu

This is one of the basic mutton curries. Not much grinding required here. I believe this is the way it is made in villages too. I have some nostalgic memories of my aunt, making it in huge vessels for the village fair. Lamb can be used as a substitute, but it doesn't have the distinct flavor that mutton does.

Mutton - 2 lbs

Ginger Garlic paste - 4 tbsps
Onion - 1 1/2 Big - Coarsely chopped
Tomatoes - 1 Medium - Finely chopped
Potato -1 Medium (Optional) - Medium size pieces

Dry Garam Masala - Cloves, Cardamom, Cinnamon
Fennel Seeds - 1 1/2 tbps ( this is a must)

Turmeric, Chilli powder , Corriander powders - as required
Gingelly oil - 1tbsp - optional

1.Clean the mutton ,smear with turmeric and allow to rest for 10 mins
2. Add Chilli powder, ginger garlic paste ,1/2 tbsp of salt to a pressure cooker , mutton pieces. Add water to cover the mutton pieces and allow 6 whistles.
-You can skip step 2 if you are in India.
3. Add oil to a kadai and add all the dry garam masala and fennel seeds. Then add the onions and fry for atleast 15 mins.
4. Add tomatoes and allow it to mix well.Now add the ginger garlic paste.
5. When the smell of ginger garlic paste is gone, add cumin, chilli powder, corrinader powder. Also add the potatoes and salt.
6.When this all mixes well, add the mutton pieces and coat well.
7. Add a cup of water.
8. Transfer the contents to a pressure cooker and allow 3 whistles
--You can skip step of you have enough time to allow the curry to boil. That should take 30-45 mins on medium flame.
9. Remove the whistle, reduce the flame to low-medium and keep stirring. This allows the curry to leave out oil.
10. Once you get the disered consistency, add a spoon of gingelly oil(nalla yaennai) and serve.