Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Sandwich#Foodieextravaganza

For Foodie Extravaganza this month our host is Camilla of Culinary Adventures, challenged us to created Ice Cream Sandwiches.  Making ice cream sandwiches is easy, but, to keep them frozen, even to take a pic is a real challenge, since my city weather conditions do not permit it, the ice cream starts to melt immediately, my great worry was that the cookies will turn soggy.  But this recipe I, can guarantee that they will not turn soggy even if you freeze them, but the use of vegetable shortening is a must. They are crisp and delicious.
Makes about 18 to 20 Sandwich Cookies depending on the size of the cutter

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Melted Chocolate 

100 Grams Unsalted Butter

100 Grams  Vegetable Shortening
15 Grams Condensed Milk 

100 Grams  Caster Sugar 

2 Egg Yolks Only 

40 Grams  Almond Meal 

20 Grams Cocoa powder 

340 Grams All purpose flour
20 Grams Corn Flour 

2 Grams Salt

Method 

Sieve the flour, cocoa, salt, keep aside.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave and keep aside. 
Beat the butter and the vegetable shortening till creamy add half the melted chocolate and beat add sugar and beat. Now add egg yolks one at time and beat till both are incorporated. Add the sieved flour, almond meal and knead it lightly to make a dough.  Place this in a cling wrap and make it into a square and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.  Divide into two equal parts and roll between two parchment sheets.  

Cut with a cookie cutter, place them in a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 12 to 15 minutes.  

Cool them in a cooling rack completely and store it airtight container.
Quick & Easy Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients
75 Grams Condensed Milk
100 Grams Fresh Cream
1 Tablespoon Instant Coffee
2 Tablespoons Hot Milk

Method

Chill the Condensed Milk, fresh Cream for 3 hour's in the freezer. The beat it for a good 15 minutes till it starts to become fluffy. Add the coffee mixture and cling wrap it along with the beater in the freezer for another 30 to 45 minutes.

Remove it from the freezer and place this on ice filled bowl and again beat till it doubles in volume and is fluffy.

Pour this into a air tight container and cling wrap it. Freeze it overnight or till set.

Delicious ice cream is ready.  
To Assemble The Cookies

Take the ice cream and  cut it with the same sized mold as the cookies. 

Take one cookie, place the ice cream and sandwich with another cookie.  Like wise make all.  Place it in a airtight container and freeze them until the ice cream hardens for at least  4 hours.  

Enjoy these chilled. Mine were melting since the weather here is hot.  The great thing about these ice cream cookies are that even though you freeze them they do  not soften.  We enjoyed them as a dessert after our meal.

Labels: Almond Meal, Baked, Biscuits & Cookies, Chocolate, Coffee, Foodie Extravaganza Party, Homemade, Ice Cream, Vegetable Shortneing

• Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Sandwich by Sneha's Recipe
• Cookie Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Funfetti Ice Cream Sandwiches by Tara's Multicultural Table
• Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches by Making Miracles
• Mostly Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cashewmilk Sandwiches by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Nutella with Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches by Our Good Life
• Stroopwafel Ice Cream Sandwich by Pandemonium Noshery 
  
  
  

Vegetarian Rice Roni With Homemade Rice Roni Mix

This Homemade Rice Roni is a blend of rice and pasta which then cooked in butter, chicken/vegetable stock and seasonings until light and fluffy. A quick easy dish that tastes so good. This Homemade Rice-A-Roni has no artificial ingredients and is absolutely delicious. 

I had this rice roni many times when I stayed abroad.  I loved it , but, here it's not available so made my own.  This is a basic mix, you can have many add ons/flavorful spices to it when you are cooking this as a meal.

This Homemade Rice Roni is the perfect accompaniment to make a complete and delicious meal with chicken, fish, steak or shrimp. I also used this to make this  Colombian Arroz Atollado

Ingredients 
200 Grams Spaghetti - broken into pieces
2 Cups Basmati Rice

1 Tablespoon Oil
Method
Wash the rice with a wet cloth and let it dry for some time. In the meantime in a pan heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the spaghetti  for a minute or two only. Cool and mix it with the rice.  

Homemade Rice Roni Mix is ready.  

I made a vegetarian version of this for our lunch.
Vegetarian Rice Roni

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Dried Chives

1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning Mix 

1 Bay Leaf

¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Powder or to taste

1 Vegetable Stock Cube

1 Scallion/Spring Onion -  chopped 
1 Medium Onion - chopped  
1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic 
5 - 6  Broccoli Florets
¼ Cup  Diced Carrots

¼ Cup  French Beans - chopped

½ Cup  Colored Bell Peppers - chopped 

1 Small  Tomatoes - chopped  

1½ Cups  Rice Roni

3½  Cups Water

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 Tablespoon Oil

Method

Heat oil and butter in a large pot/pan, fry the onion, till translucent, add all the veggies, chives, seasoning , bay leaf and saute for a minute.  

Add the stock cube, water , give it a light mix and bring this to a rolling boil.  

Now add the rice roni , give it a light stir. Cover, let it be on high flame for a minute then reduce the flame to low and let it cook for 12 -15 minutes giving it a light stir after 5 minutes.  Check for taste and seasoning, add black pepper powder to your taste ( this is optional). 

When liquid has been absorbed, take a test bite to see if rice is cooked through. Add  hot water if necessary and continue cooking if it needs a bit more time.

 Delicious Rice Roni is ready to enjoy. 

Serve this with Egg And Cauliflower Salad. 

Moong Dal Sambar

This sambar I, have enjoyed, during my stay in Bangalore. I use to have this for breakfast every day with idli, dosa or vadas and filter coffee. I made it for our lunch along with Instant Urad Dal Flour & Rava Medhu Vadas. This was a classic combo which revived memories of my stay in Bangalore.

Serves 4 to 5
Ingredients
9 -10 Sambar Onions/Shallots - peeled
2 Small Tomatoes - chopped finely
A Small Lime size Tamarind - soaked in 1/4 cup warm water
½ Cup Yellow Moong Dal
1 Teaspoon Sambar Powder
¼ Teaspoon Turmeric powder
A Pinch Asafoetida
Salt to taste
1 Tablespoon Oil
A Sprig Curry Leaves
¼ Cup Packed Freshly Grated Coconut
For the Masala  
1 Teaspoon Oil
1 Tablespoon Coriander seeds
1 Teaspoon Chana Dal
4 Whole Dry Red Chillies
¼ Cumin Seeds
10 Grains Fenugreek Seeds
For the Tadka 
1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
2 Dry Red Chillies
A Sprig Curry Leaves
1 Tablespoon Oil
A Pinch of Asafoetida  

Method 

Fry all the ingredients under Masala in a teaspoon of oil separately, till fragrant and they start to turn brown. Grind the roasted ingredients well. I used half of the dry powdered masala ( keep the remaining in a airtight container with a label and used it the next time to make  sambar) and again ground it along with the freshly grated coconut and a little water to a thick fine smooth masala paste.

Wash and soak the dal for 30 minutes. Then pressure cook the dal for 3 whistles on high flame by adding  1½ cup water and a pinch of turmeric powder to it.

In a pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the sambar onions for a minute, add the tomatoes and cook till tomatoes become mushy, 

add the tamarind extract(soak very little tamarind in hot water and extract juice), sambar powder, turmeric powder, curry leaves and salt, stir well. Now add the cooked moong dal and the ground paste. Add 2 cups of water or as per your desired consistency. 

Bring this to a rolling boil and then reduce to flame to low, let it simmer for 8 -10 minutes, keep stirring after every two minutes so that the dal does not settle to the bottom of the pan and get burnt. Taste for salt and seasonings add if needed according to your taste. Switch off the flame.

Now let's make the Tadka

Heat oil in a tadka pan add the mustard seeds, when they splutter add the red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves. Stir this with a spoon and pour it over the dal. Cover and let it sit for 10 minutes. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.

Enjoy with Instant Urad Dal Flour & Rava Medhu Vadas
 or ildi, dosa or even steamed rice.
Labels : South Indian,Moong Dal, Sambar, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten free, Main course, Breakfast, Healthy

Instant Urad Dal Flour & Rava Medhu Vadas

These are instant and crispy, but not so spongy  like the freshly ground dal, but  taste delicious . Have these with this Sambar and you will enjoy this.   

The  key to make these light is to beat for at least 15 minutes with a electric hand beater till bubbles are seen and the batter is fluffy.

Makes 12 - 14 depending on the size
Ingredients
1 Cup Urad Dal Flour
4 Tablespoons Heaped Rice Flour
½ Cup Heaped Fine Rava /Semolina
½ Teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 Green Chilly -finely chopped
6 Curry Leaves - finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Coriander leaves
1/2 Teaspoon Salt 
1½ Cups Water
Oil for deep frying

Method 

Whisk  the urad dal flour with water( adding a little water at a time) till light and fluffy  dough for at least 15 minutes with a electric hand beater. When light, fluffy add rice flour, whisk till thick  and bubbly batter is formed. 

Now add the rava/semolina and beat again for 2 - 3 minutes.  Let it rest for 10 minutes.  Then add chopped green chillies, cumin seeds, coriander and curry leaves. 

Mix well and again keep it aside.

Let this rest  till oil is getting hot in a kadai.

When the oil is hot make small vadas and fry on medium flame till crisp and golden.

Enjoy!!

We had it with Moong Dal Sambar for our Sunday lunch, a change from the routine food.  Enjoyed it thoroughly!!

Labels : South Indian, Instant Mixes, Snacks, Breakfast, Main course, Deep Fried, Vegan

Ghugni/White Peas Curry- Pressure Cooker

Ghugni/ Dried White Vatana/ White Peas Curry is an evening snack/ street food, which is popular in Eastern India, North India wherein dried white peas are cooked with gravy in the traditional Indian style. We had this for our lunch with Dhuska which is a classic combo.

Serves: 3 - 4
Ingredients
1 Cup Dried White Vatana/Peas
3 Baby Potatoes -  diced
1 Large Onion -  finely chopped
2 Medium Tomatoes - finely chopped
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
2 Teaspoons Cumin powder
2 Teaspoons Level Red Chilly powder
½  Teaspoon Garam masala
3 Cloves Garlic - minced

½" Piece Ginger - minced
3 Tablespoons Oil
Salt to taste

2 Tablespoons chopped Coriander leaves

2 Green Chillies - slit & de seeded
Lemon Slices for garnish
Method 

Wash and soak the dried vatana/peas overnight. Next morning, drain the soaking water and wash it in fresh water. Pour this into a pressure pan add ½ teaspoon Himalayan salt, water above an inch of the vatana. Cover and cook on high flame for one whistle, reduce the flame to low and keep it for 10 -12 minutes. Switch off the flame and let the cooker cool. Open this and check if the vatana is cooked or else keep it for a minute or two more. I cooked it for exactly 12 minutes and they were perfectly done. Remove this into a bowl.

Heat the oil in  the same pressure pan. Add the minced ginger-garlic , fry till it starts to turn brown

add the onions and cook till they turn translucent. Add the diced tomatoes

 cook till they are mushy and oil separates.

Now, add the turmeric powder, cumin powder, red chilly powder, garam masala, mix well.

Add the  potatoes and  fry till the masala coats the potatoes.

 Now add the cooked peas along with the stock, mix lightly. Add little of the coriander leaves and about a quarter to half  cup of water (or  according to the consistency required). Bring this to a rolling boil, cover with the lid  and  take one whistle on high flame, reduce the  flame  and let it cook for 2 -3 minutes. Switch off the flame and let the cooker steam settle down.  

Open the cooker  and check the gravy consistency, if it is too watery then let it simmer open till it   thicken and  oil starts to surface.  Now add the slit green chillies and let is simmer for a minute.  The consistency of the ghugni is neither too thin nor too thick.  Switch off the flame, squeeze  half an lemon juice and mix well.

Garnish with sliced tomatoes, coriander leaves  and lemon  slices.

Enjoy with Dhuska, this is a classic combo.

Ghugni  can be enjoyed as a chaat or as a curry with any  Indian bread too.

Labels :  Chaat, Dried, Gluten free, Main course, North Indian, Peas, Snack, Vatana, Vegan,  Street food, Gluten free, Multicooker Monday  
Multicooker Monday July 2020: Recipes using Small Kitchen Appliances

• Instant Pot Chicken and Rice from Making Miracles
• Crockpot Stuffed Peppers from Veggies First Then Dessert
• Instant Pot Saffron Risotto from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Ghugni/White Peas Curry- Pressure Cooker from Sneha's Recipe
• Slow Cooker Cottage Ham with Green Beans and Potatoes from Palatable Pastime
• Crockpot Cheesy Potatoes from A Day in the Life on the Farm