Caramelized Apple Dessert Cups#SundayFunday

Caramelized Apple Dessert Cups are an easy, delicious, and no bake dessert. Make these cups , they are irresistible and perfect for easy dessert! Hope you will enjoy this special dessert.

Ingredients
For The Caramel Apples
2 Medium Apple - chopped
22 Caramel Candies
¼ Cup Milk
For The Cups
500 Ml Full Fat Milk
3 Tablespoons Corn Flour
3 Tablespoon Sugar
½ Cup Whipping Cream

Method 
For The Caramel Apples

In a heavy bottom pan add the candies and milk, on very low flame let the candies melt, when they melt add the chopped apples and saute till they are coated and cooked. Cool and keep aside. 

For The Cups

Take half a cup milk from the 500 ml and mix the cornflour to make a smooth slurry. Keep aside.
In a heavy bottom pan heat the remaining milk, when it comes to a boil add the sugar and mix well till sugar melts, then add in the corn flour slurry whisking continuously till it starts to cook and mixture forms a thick custard . Cook on very low flame stirring continuously or else it will burn at the bottom.
When it thickens whisk it continuously till it cools.
Whip the cream till it forms soft peaks. Add in the cooled custard and mix it well till it forms a smooth custard.

Fill this into the small cups, top it with the caramelized apples and cling wrap each cup and refrigerate till chilled. 

Serve chilled.
Labels: Caramel, Apple, Sweets & Desserts, Dessert, Sunday Funday

• Caramel Apple Cookies by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Caramel Apple Strudel by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Caramelized Apple Dessert Cups by Sneha’s Recipe
• Spiced Caramel Apple Cake by Culinary Adventure with Camilla
• Warm Caramel Apple Dip by Palatable Pastime 

Atta Ladoo/Whole Wheat Flour Ladoo#SundayFunday

Atta Ladoo is a popular sweet that is prepared during festivals and winter. It's a rich, made with desi ghee and nuts. It makes a sweet dessert or snack. This is commonly made in every house hold with some variations. It is a simple recipe with few ingredients, but the texture and taste is amazing!

For this ladoo you require coarsely ground whole wheat flour which is also used to make Kada Prashad, this is readily available in the market as Jada (coarse) or Ladoo Atta.

Make 20 to 25 Medium Ladoos
Ingredients
3 Cups Coarsely Ground Whole Wheat Flour
1 ½ Cup Desi Ghee1
½ Cup Bura Sugar / Karara Sugar
¼ Cup Almonds
¼ Cup Cashews
¼ Cup Golden Raisins
1 Teaspoon Cardamom powder

Method

Dry roast atta, in a thick bottom pan, on low medium heat until lightly colored this takes exactly 15 minutes. 

After this keep adding ghee 3 tablespoons at time and continue roasting, stirring continuously, when this is mixed add another few tablespoons of ghee and continue to stir continuously till all the ghee is used. 

Keep stirring on medium low flame till the atta will be light brown and will release a fragrant sweet aroma of roasting. 

This should take about 20 to 30 minutes or till it reaches a brown color and starts leaving ghee.

Once it reaches the desired color take off flame. Remove it it on to a big flat plate to cool. 

Now in the same pan add the almonds and cashewnuts and fry till they are toasted add the rasinis and fry for a minute.
When cooled chop the almonds and cashewnuts.

As you can see the ghee has surfaced on top. At this stage I, used a paper towel and dabbed off all the excess ghee that surfaced as much as possible. I did not want so much ghee in my ladoos. 

Now when the atta is lightly warm add the chopped almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, bura / karara sugar and cardamom powder. With your palms rub it into the atta mix so that all are incorporated nicely.

To make the ladoos, take about 2 - 3 tablespoons of atta mix into your palm. Gently press the mixture between your palms to form a smooth, round ball.

Leave the ladoos on a plate to cool to room temperature before putting into a airtight container. 

These ladoos can be stored for 2 to 3 weeks.

These are so delicious and mouth melting and assure you that you can't stop at one.  
Lables: Ladoo, Atta, Whole Wheat Flour, Desi Ghee, Raisins, Cashewnuts, Almond, Festival Sweets, Christmas, Snack, Sweets & Desserts, Diwali Faral

For Sunday Funday our today's theme is Diwali Party Recipes.  

• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Aloo Tikki
• Sneha’s Recipe: Atta Ladoo / Whole Wheat Flour Ladoo
• Palatable Pastime: Chicken Tikka Nan Pizza 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Chocolate Kalakand 
• Cook with Renu: Condensed Milk Instant Kalakand 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Crunchy Chickpeas Masala
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla : Gulab Jamun 
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Vegetable Pulao (Indian Rice Pilaf) 

Seer Fish/Surmai Kujit- East Indian#FishFriday

Fish Kujit is a traditional fish stew. This East Indian Fish Curry has a slight tangy taste from the use of vinegar with the freshly ground green masala and the goodness of fresh coconut milk. It's delicious stew.

I have made this with seer fish you can use any white fish. I remember as kid, this was my comfort food and would enjoy this with hot Hand breads(Apas), you can also enjoy this with any crusty bread or steamed rice.

Ingredients

500 Grams Surmai Fish fillets
1 Medium Onion - thinly sliced
6 Green Chillies - slit
1" Piece Ginger - cut into juliennes
6 Cloves Garlic - cut into juliennes
1 Small Tomato - chopped
Vinegar to taste
2 - 3 Tablespoons Oil
Salt to taste
½ Freshly Grated Coconut - remove milk (first & second extract)-keep separately
Grind To Paste
6 Cloves Garlic
½" Piece Ginger
1 Teaspoon Cumin powder
1½ Teaspoon Coriander powder
½ Teaspoon Turmeric powder
10 Black Peppercorns
2 Tablespoons Coriander leaves
2 Green Chillies
2 Tablespoon Grated Coconut

Method

Grind the given ingredients to a fine paste using the second extract of the coconut milk if required (do not use water). Keep this aside.

Heat oil in a pot or mud vessel/treezal, fry the ginger, garlic, green chillies, onion and tomato, sauté till the onion is translucent ( I removed a little of this for garnishing). Now add the ground masala , wash the mixer jar with little water and fry till oil surfaces. Add the first extract coconut milk and salt to taste, give it a good mix , slowly slide in the pieces of seer fish and give it a light mix so that fish is submerged in the gravy. Let this come to boil on medium low flame. Cover and let it simmer for 2 minutes or till the fish is cooked. Switch off the flame add the vinegar, taste for sourness if needed add according to your taste.

Garnish with the sautéed onion, green chillies, ginger garlic and tomato. 

Serve hot with steamed rice or Hand Breads(Apas)
Labels: Fish Stew, Fish Friday, East Indian, Main course, Seafood/Fish

For Fish Friday our theme is Seafood Or Fish Stews.

• Food Lust People Love: Malaysian-style Curry Laksa 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories:  Shrimp, White Bean, and Kale Stew 
• Palatable Pastime: Shrimp and Crab Gumbo 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Seer Fish/Surmai Kujit- East Indian 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Sausage and Halibut One Pot Stew

Halloween Blood Bundt#BundtBakers

Blood Bundt is perfect for a Halloween party. This bundt cake is light, soft and buttery. I took this bundt for my friends house warming party. This was served as a dessert. It's a crowd pleaser! But incidentally my red blood turned pink, it not's so red enough😂!!

Ingredients
1½ Cups All Purpose Flour
½ Tablespoon Baking Powder
113 Grams Salted Butter
1 Cup Caster Sugar
2 Large Eggs
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¾ Cup Buttermilk
For The Blood Glaze
1½ Cup Icing Sugar
½ Tablespoon Milk
Red Food Coloring - as required

Method
Preheat oven to 170°C.

Butter a 7" bundt pan generously with butter, then set aside.In a bowl, sieve together flour, baking powder.
In another bowl beat together butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Now add the eggs one at a time, mixing each before adding the next.
Fold in the dry ingredients in 3 batches with a spatula alternating with the butter milk, to the batter. Continue alternating between the dry ingredients and the buttermilk until all have been added and batter looks smooth fully incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared bundt pan and bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean.

Cool, the bundt and unmold it on to a wire rack. 

When cooled completely then we cut the top of the cake to level it. 

For The Blood Glaze

In a large bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and red food coloring. If desired, add more red food coloring for a deeper color. The consistency of the glaze should be thick enough that it’s not too drippy (so add the milk a little at a time) but liquid enough that it will fall down the cake.

On a large plate and then keep the wire rack on top. Place the bundt cake on it.

Pour the glaze in a piping bag and drizzle the glaze on top of the bundt. Let the glaze harden before slicing it. So let it set.

Slice & Enjoy!!
Labels: Bundt, Bundt Bakers, Halloween, Dessert

BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

This month Simply Inspired Meals is hosting Spooky Bundt Cakes. She asked the group to make any cake that had some element that made it spooky. 

This wonderful group is administered by Stacy of Food Lust People Love. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about #BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Spooky Bundts 

• Boo Spiders in Chocolate Orange and Pumpkin Bundt Cake by Patyco Candybar
• Dark Mark Skull Cakes by Simply Inspired Meals
• Halloween Blood Bundt by Sneha's Recipe
• Mini Ghost Bundts by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mini Mummy Bundts by Passion Kneaded 

Halloween Ghost Hardboiled Eggs#Sunday Funday

These spooky Halloween Ghost Hardboiled Eggs are packed in protein. They are so cute and easy to make. These are perfect for a snack, lunch box or even for breakfast. To give these a nice yellow look for the eyes and mouth I used yellow gel color since the yolks were not that dark yellow that I wanted.

Hardboiled eggs
Knife
A Standard size straw
A Milkshake size straw
A Drop Yellow Gel Color
Method

First, slice the bottom off of the eggs so they can stand upright without toppling.

Then, take your milk sized straw and insert it right where you imagine the ghost’s eyes to go – toward the narrow (top) end of the oval

Insert the straw just through the outer white portion of the egg and stop before you hit the firm yolk
twist the straw around so it carves out a circle
pull the straw out at a slight angle so the circle that you just carved out of the white part remains inside the straw as you pull it out of the egg (you’re essentially creating a vacuum effect with the straw)
squeeze the egg that is inside the straw out onto your work surface and repeat for more ghost eyes
Mouth

Use your regular sized straw for the mouth of the ghost
I like to squeeze the straw a little to shape it into an oval for the ghost’s mouth. 

Repeat the same procedure from above. That’s it! 

The Halloween Ghost Hardboiled Eggs are done. What a fun exercise. 
Labels: Keto, Low Carb, Egg, Halloween, Sunday Funday, Breakfast, Snack, Lunch Box  

Sunday Funday

Halloween Party Treats

• Ghostly Candy Apple Concoction Bark by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Jack O’Lantern Cheese Bites by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Halloween Ghost Hardboiled Eggs by Sneha's Recipes
• Spider Web Pretzels by Amy’s Cooking Adventures

Herbed Stock Couscous Soup#Soupswappers

This is a flavorful soup. The herbs are boiled in water and then strained. This gives the stock a fantastic aroma and taste to the soup. The herbs used are organic and from my garden. It's has veggies and couscous, this is a complete meal soup. If you want a light and delicious dinner then soup is for you. In this soup you can add veggies of your choice, there isn't any hard and fast rule as to what veggies can go in.

Serves 3
Ingredients
For The Herbed Stock
1 Big Stock Cube
8 Cups Water
5 - 6 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
5 - 6 Fresh Sprigs Oregano
10 - 12 Basil Leaves
4 Ribs Celery - for the stock used the only leaves
5 - 6 Sprigs Mint
Other Ingredients
4 Ribs Celery - chopped
1 Large Carrot - diced
1 Medium Onion - chopped
1 Medium Head Broccoli - cut into florets
1 Medium Tomato - diced
2 Big Cloves Garlic - finely chopped
¼ Teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
Salt & Black Pepper powder to taste
A Dash of Paprika - Optional
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
Hot & Sweet Sauce - as required

Method 
For The Stock

In a large pot add the water, stock cube and all the herbs with the stems, except the celery since the ribs will be chopped to prepare the soup. Bring this to a boil, when it comes to rolling boil, let it simmer till the stock reduces to 5 cups. Do reduce the stock too much since the couscous will absorb a lot of the stock and you will then have to add extra water to the soup. Let the stock cool a little then strain all the stock and discard the herbs.

For The Soup

In a large pot heat a teaspoon of olive oil, add the onion and garlic sauté till the onion is translucent add all the veggies and sauté for 2 minutes on medium high flame. Add the stock and bring this to a boil. Reduce the flame to low and let the veggies cook till they are just done. Add the couscous and stir it well, cook it for 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add salt, black pepper to taste and cumin powder. Let this simmer for a minute. Switch off the flame.

Serve hot in a soup bowl with a dash of paprika and black pepper powder for my hubby.

For me add a teaspoon of Hot & Sweet Sauce and it tasted awesome. Enjoy this filling delicious meal, healthy soup.
Labels: Vegan, Soup, Soup Swappers, Herbs, Broccoli, Carrot, Onion, Garlic, Couscous, Main course, Healthy Dinners

Soup Saturday Swappers

Meal Sized Soups and Stews

• Herb Stocked Couscous Soup by Sneha's Recipes
• Gnocchi Minestrone with Italian Sausage by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Beef GHOULash by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chorizo and Vegetable Posole by Palatable Pastime

Bisi Bele Bath#Improv

Bisi Bele Bath or Bisi Bele Huliyanna is a dish meal which is flavorsome, spicy and slightly tangy complete meal made with lentils, rice, mixed vegetables and a super aromatic spice powder. This is a famous Karnataka cuisine dish. It's actually a masala khichdi with lots of veggies. The term “Bisi bele bath” translates to “Hot Lentil Rice Dish”. “Bisi” is a Kannada word meaning “Hot”, “Bele” translates to “Lentils” and “Bath” is a word that denotes a “Soupy Rice".

Bisi Bele Bath is so popular that you get it so easily in the South Indian restaurants in Bangalore.  To make this dish I have used readymade Bisi Bele Bath masala, which is readily available in any store. I am sharing the quick and delicious way to prepare this dish/ a pressure cooker version. 

Serve 5 as a complete meal
Ingredients
1 Cup Short Grain Rice(- washed)
1/3 Cup Tur Dal
1 Medium Onion - chopped
1 Teaspoon Finely Chopped Ginger
1 Large Tomato - chopped
8 - 10 Beans - cut into big bits
½ Cup Green Peas - I used frozen
½ Cup Cauliflower Florets - I used frozen
½ Cup Pumpkin - cut into medium cubes
½ Cup Carrot - cut into medium cubes
2 Small Potato - cut into medium cubes
½ Cup Diced Capsicum - I used Red , Yellow and Green - you can use any one color
½ Cup Tamarind Juice
1½ Tablespoons Level Bisi Bele Bath Powder
¼ Teaspoon + ½ Teaspoon Salt or to taste
For The Tadka
½ Cup Oil
1½ Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
¼ Teaspoon Asafoetida
2 Sprig Curry Leaves
¼ Cup Cashewnuts or Raw Peanuts - I used Cashewnuts
2 Dried Red Chillies

Method
For Cooking The Veggies

In a pressure cooker add the all the veggies, beans, pumpkin, potato , carrot ( since I used frozen cauliflower and peas I did not add to the cooker. If you are using fresh then add this to the cooker). Add ¼ teaspoon salt and ½ cup water. Take one whistle on high flame. Let the cooker cool completely. Strain the stock & veggies. Keep them aside separately.

In the same cooker add the rice and lentils, with ½ teaspoon salt. Measure the stock from the veggies. Add total 5 cups water. Keep it on medium high flame and take 5 whistles. The rice and lentils should be mushy, then you do not need to mash them.

In a big kadai/ pot heat oil, add the mustard seeds, when they splutter add the asafoetida, curry leaves , dried red chillies and cashewnuts sauté for a minute or till the cashewnuts turn golden. Remove ½ of the tadka and keep aside for garnish ( this is optional).
Now add the capsicum, peas and cauliflower, saute for a minute or two. Then add all the cooked veggies, the bisi bele bath powder and saute till it releases an aroma, say for 2 minutes on medium low flame. 

Add the tamarind water and cooked rice dal mix. Give it a good mix, add more hot water if necessary to make it a soupy dish. Let this simmer for 4-5 minutes so that the flavors infuse on very low flame, covered with a lid. Taste for salt,  add accordingly.  After 4 -5 minutes switch off the flame. 

Serve garnished with the remaining tadka this hot. As this cools the rice and dal will absorb most of the stock and will thicken. 

We enjoyed this hot with fried rice papad or falafel. pickle and raita. Bisi bele bath is a delicious complete and healthy meal. My guest enjoyed this meal. Do try this recipe, you will definitely fall in love with it.

Labels : Khichdi, Karnataka, Rice, Lentils, Mixed Veggies, Pumpkin, Complete Meal, Healthy, Vegan, Gluten free, Main course, Tur Dal, Pressure Cooker, Improv Cooking Challenge

Improv Cooking Challenge

Squash & Rice

Bisi Bele Bath by Sneha's Recipes
Butternut Squash Methi Pulao by Magical Ingredients
Butternut Squash Rice Pudding by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Pilaf by Palatable Pastime