Homemade chocolates

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Morde chocolate bar
a few almonds


Fillings:

For Ganache:
Cream  - 1/2 cup
grated chocolate - 1/2 cup
a pinch of salt

For finishing
Mould plate
chocolate wrapping foils
a few almonds
Method:
Grate the chocolate bar.

Morde or selborne chocolate bar( available in market)

Choclate gratings

                                                        Melted in the double boiler method

Melt the gratings in a double boiler. Heat water in a vessel. In another vessel add the grated chocolate and place it in the vessel with hot water.

When the chocolate melts, pour them in the moulds of your choice readily available in market or spoon them on a greasy surface like plate to form your own patterns.


To make a ganache chocolate filling

Heat the cream, add the grated chocolate and salt to make a ganache mixture.

Pour the melted chocolate to fill half  the mold, place a spoon of ganache and cover again with the melted chocolate.

                                 Heat the cream( amul) or even the home collected cream

                                               

                                      Pour the half cup heated cream over half cup chocolate gratings and add a pinch of salt

                                           Mix well to make a creamy ganache


To make an almond filling chocolate.

Pour the melted chocolate  in the mould, place an almond and cover the almond with some more melted chocolate.

                                                           chocolate with almond filling

                                                    Chocolate with ganache filling

           

The chocolatiers licking their creations

                                                              The chocolates after getting dislodged

WRAPPING

 When cooled, dislodge the chocolates form the mould and wrap them in the colorful foils of your choice.
The above chocolatey affair was done by my son and daughter with a lot of disagreements, kicks, licks, mess and love thrown in.

                                              Being wrapped

                                                           Grab them now before its gone

Bonus:
The end product was awesome no doubt. I relished the chocolates made by my children and went to sit on the  dining chair when i found a blob of gooey melted chocolate on the upholtery.

When i showed this to my son, my son said. Don't worry ma, I will give you the upholstery polisher's number. He will do the shampooing job.

Wheat carrot cake with flax seeds

Ingredients
2 cup multigrain wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup honey
flax seed paster* (instead of 4 eggs)
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup unsweetened crushed canned pineapple, drained(optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients( except flax seeds)
Add oil, honey and flax seeds mix well
Stir in remaining ingredients
Bake the mixture to eat a guilt free cake loaded with goodness of honey, carrots, wheat and flax seeds.

The cake was moist and spongy. forgot to click in the beginning, only the crumbs are what you see

To replace one egg:
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3 tablespoons water (or other liquid)

Stir together until thick and gelatinous.

You can also use whole flaxseeds:

1 tablespoon whole flaxseeds
4 tablespoons water (or other liquid)

Process seeds in a blender to a fine meal, add liquid and blend well.

You can make a bigger batch by increasing the ingredient amounts. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Thakkali thokku

Thakkali thokku is a tangy and spicy traditional saucy pickle made of tomatoes. Best when mixed with rice. tastes good with curd rice, dosa , roti or idli. It can be used as a bread spread too. my mom is a specialist in making oorgais( pickles) and thokkus( chutneys) . 

Ingredients:

Tomatoes  - 1 kg( chopped and ground to pulp)
thick tamarind juice  (extracted from lemon size)
ginger(optional) -  2" piece chopped and ground
red chilli powder - 2 1/2  table spoon Or according to the degree of spiciness can be increased or decreased.
asafoetida - 1/2 teaspoon
fenugreek seeds  - 1 teaspoon(roasted and ground)
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
salt to taste
Gingelly oil -- for cooking 3 table spoon
Jaggery(optional) - To balance the taste of spice,tanginess, and salt

Method:
Grind tomatoes,  tamarind and ginger in a mixer.
Heat a kadai and add gingelly oil, when it reaches smoking point,Add the ground mixture and saute for a while in the oil.
Now add turmeric, and redchilli powder.
When the sauce bubbles add salt, roasted fenugreek and asafoetida powder and allow it to thicken  till the sauce leaves the sides and the oil floats to the top.
Allow the mixture to cool and transfer it to a clean dry container.

Has a shelf life of more than 3 months when cooked in oil properly and stored in an airtight container



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Christmas fruit cake

Ingredients:

1 tin(400g) condensed milk
100g butter
1/2cup(75g) sugar
1/3 cup(50)ml warm water
2 cups(200g) maida
1 tbsp baking powder
1tbsp soda bicarbonate
1/2tbsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tbsp nutmeg powder
1 1/2 cups, chopped(150g) mixed dry fruits( cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts, cherries, orange peel)
150 ml aerated soda

Step1: Preheat oven to 180 deg c, grease and dust with maida an 8" dia round cake tin. Heat sugar in a pan till it melts and becomes brown, add warm water to make caramel syrup and keep aside. Sift together the maida, baking powder, soda bicarbonate, cinnamon and nutmeg, 2-3 times. Mix 1 tbsp maida into the chopped fruit to coat the fruit.

                                                             Dry fruits dusted in maida

                                                                        caramel syrup

STEP2: soften butter in a pan; mix in condensed milk. Fold in the sifted maida with the milkmaid- butter mixture, alternating with aerated soda and caramel syrup till all are used. Add the chopped dry fruits, fold into the mix carefully.

STEP3: Pour the batter into the greased cake tin and bake for an hour at 180 deg c or till the cake is done. Remove from oven, cool for a while. Loosen sides of cake and turnout onto a plate. Cool Slightly before cutting into pieces

REcipe courtesy: Nestle milkmaid.

Green peas Paratha/kachori

A tasty and nutritious paratha for school tiffin box, packed with goodness of peas and multigrain atta. When rolled to small diameter can be fried in oil to make peas kachori for evening tea time.

Ingredients:

For outer covering:
Multigrain atta(wheat, jowar, chickpeas and ragi) - 3 cups
salt to taste
Knead them to a pliable dough and allow it to rest for some time(min 1/2 hour)

For filling:
Fresh green peas : 2 cups
garlic - 4 nos
ginger paste/powder - 1/2 teaspoon
dhania powder - 2 teaspoon
redchilli powder -- 11/2 teaspoon or finely cut green chilli
amchur powder( 1 teaspoon) or lime juice - 1 table spoon
butter( for parathas) or oil for frying(kachori)


Method:For filling

Boil green peas with garlic.

Puree them in a blender.

To the peas puree, add all the above spice powders and mix them well. If the puree is watery, thicken the puree by sauteeing in a little oil to make it into a solid lump.

To make parathas:

Roll a golf ball sized dough into a roti of small size. Place an appropriate quantity of filling in the middle. Fold it from all sides and remove the excess dough at the top. Now pat them and roll it into the required diameter and roast them on a tawa till it gets cooked. Brush it up with butter on both sides and it is ready to be packed in the tiffin box.


To make Kachoris: For the kachoris, follow the above method, only instead of rolling it into a bigger dia, make it smaller to 2" dia and fry them in oil.


Tastes good without any accompaniment, if you still want an accompaniment, have it with mint chutney or tomato sauce.

Kothamalli thokku

Kothamalli is coriander and thokku is a saucy pickle. It can be mixed with rice or as an accompaniment to idli, dosa, roti etc. It also can be used as a bread spread.

Ingredients:

Kothamalli( coriander) washed under running water,drained and chopped - 3 cups
tamarind juice 2 table spoon or juice of one tangy tomato.
ginger - 1" piece chopped (optional)
red chilli powder - 1 table spoon Or according to the degree of spiciness can be increased or decreased.
asafoetida - 1/2 teaspoon
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
salt to taste
Gingelly oil -- 3 table spoon

Method:
Grind coriander, tamarind and ginger in a mixer.

Heat a kadai and add gingelly oil, when it reaches smoking point,Add the ground mixture and saute for a while in the oil.
Now add turmeric, asafoetida and redchilli powder.
When the sauce bubbles add salt and allow it to boil till the sauce leaves the sides and the oil
floats to the top.

Allow the mixture to cool and transfer it to a clean dry container.

Has a shelf life of more than 3 months when cooked in oil properly and stored in an airtight container.

Pidi karanai masiyal

Pidi karanai is a traditional tuber available only in few places. It belongs to the yam family, just the size of your fists(pidi in tamil) and hence called pidi karanai. It gives a itchy feeling in your throat when not cooked properly, hence very important to remove the itchy property by adding tamarind juice or lemon juice.

Ingredients:

Pidikaranai - 10 nos
tamarind pulp - 3 tablespoon
Green chilli - 3 no's chopped
ginger -------- 1" chopped
salt to taste
mustard and urad dal for seasoning.
coconut gratings for garnishing

Method:

Boil and peel the pidi karanais. mash them when cool and keep aside.

In a kadai, add little oil and allow mustard and urad dal to splutter
follow it with sauteing green chilli and ginger.

Now add the tamarind pulp and little water to the kadai and let it simmer till it looses its raw smell.
To this mixture, add the mashed pidi karanai and simmer on for a few seconds till all the ingredients blend together.

Garnish with curryleaf/coriander and grated coconut. Serve with rice as an accompaniment or for chappati. I love having this by itself.

variation: can be alternatively cooked with lemon juice instead of tamarind extract.