Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

The change of environment into vibrant colors and the decline of temperatures with a crisp cold breeze always pairs well with the warmth from your oven and the aroma of spices filling your whole house. Even though summer always seems to leave before you can catch those last bright rays, those which fade into the cold, gray clouds all too soon, autumn also brings with it many wonderful things- enter pumpkins! 

Now don't just let these orange beauties go to waste; bring some in home for these spiced up scones, crispy and flaky with a bite into the sweet glaze, balanced by the tartness of the cranberries. Enjoy your mid mornings with these scones and your favorite tea or coffee.

INGREDIENTS:

Scones:

11/3 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Cold Butter

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries/Craisins

1 Egg

1 Tblsp Yogurt

1 Tblsp Cold Water

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

A Pinch Clove Powder

A Pinch Grated Nutmeg

1/6 Tsp Ginger Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)

Glaze:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/4 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 Tblsp Melted Butter

1 Tblsp Milk

METHOD:

SCONES:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then grease it and dust with flour.

 In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. To this add the butter cut into small cubes and mix with a fork or pastry cutter to resemble a coarse meal.

In the other bowl, beat the egg with pumpkin puree, yogurt, cold water, and vanilla essence.

Pour this mix to the dry ingredients and mix untill well incorporated.

Finally add the cranberries and mix well. Do not knead the flour mix. Transfer to a floured surface and spread into a 8" disc.

Place this onto the prepared sheet and cut into 8 or 12 (preferable) wedges and bake for about 14 mins or until the surface turns slight brown.

Cool down for five mins before applying glaze.

GLAZE: Mix together cinnamon and powdered sugar, then add the melted butter and milk to form glaze. 

If you prefer more glaze you can double the quantity. Or serve half the pieces with glaze and leave the rest plain. It tastes equally good.

Soy Manchurian

 To think of vegetarian food without actual vegetables is quite hard. You can make something out of paneer or tofu, but what if someone doesn't like both or you want to give something different?

 Soy is like that good friend who comes in handy and surprises you. I was really really skeptical (seriously) when I thought of trying the manchurian with soy chunks. But I have no words now; I never thought this would turn out so good. Shown below is the dry version of Soy Manchurian. Try this at home and enjoy the amazing results!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Soy Chunks

1 Tblsp Corn Flour

1 Tsp Soy Sauce

11/2 Tsp Ginger Garlic Paste

3 Tblsp Oil

1 Medium Onion 

2 Green Chillies 

4 Spring Onions 

4 Garlic Pods

2" Piece Fresh Ginger 

2 Tsp Green Chilli Sauce

2 Tblsp Tomato Ketchup

2 Tsp Soy Sauce

5 Twigs Coriander Leaves (optional)

Salt 

METHOD:

   In a pan, boil 4 cups water along with the soy chunks for about 5 mins. Drain the water and squeeze out any extra from the soy chunks and chop them into smaller (2") pieces.

To this, add cornflour, ginger garlic paste,1tsp soy sauce, 1tsp green chilli paste, and a bit of salt (if needed), then mix well. 

Heat 2 tblsp oil in a pan and fry the soy chunks until they reach a light golden color, and keep aside. Just shallow frying is fine.

Chop the onion, ginger, garlic, spring 

onion and green chillies into small pieces. 

Heat a pan and add a tablespoon of oil. Keep the flame high and cook the onion for about two minutes until it starts to wilt off. Then add the white part of spring onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies one by one. Now add the soy sauce, then green chilli sauce and tomato ketchup. Check for salt and add if needed. Squeeze any extra oil from the fried soy and add to this. Give it a good stir and let cook through for two to three minutes.

Finally garnish with the green spring onion and remove from heat. Sprinkle chopped coriander on top.

A great starter or a side dish to go with any vegetarian meal.

Gka Prow Gai (Basil Chicken)

 Its end of summer and wanted I to use the last batch of basil leaves from my garden. I was looking for Thai recipes, because they make use of lots of basil in their recipes which are usually very tasty and flavorful.

  I'm really happy that I came across this recipe because it solved the purpose. I actually made it a bit dry but can be made little saucy too. So now give Gka Prow Gai a try!

INGREDIENTS:

1lb Chicken Tiny Pieces/ Mince

6  Pods Garlic Chopped

1 Small Onion Chopped

25 Chopped Basil Leaves

1 Tsp Red or Green Chilly Paste

1 Tblsp Soy Sauce

1 Tsp Brown/Palm Sugar

1 Tblsp Oyester/ Fish Sauce

3 Tblsp Cooking Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD :

 Clean and cut the chicken into very small pieces. You can even mince the chicken for this recipe.

Heat oil in a pan until really hot and fry the chopped garlic followed by onion. Add the palm sugar and chilly paste and fry well. As soon as onion turns transparent add the chicken and cook well. Add about 2 tablespoons of water if necessary.

As the chicken is cooking through, add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Adjust salt, add the basil leaves and stir together  until the dish is almost dry.

You can even switch off stove and take it out while its still saucy.

Goes really well with rice or roti. If you are planning to serve it as a starter, make it out of chicken strips.

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros is a mexican breakfast dish served with eggs which translates to "rancher's eggs". Its actually  a mid morning meal in the farms.

You can make and serve them with mexican rice, beans and eggs along with salsa and avocadoes.

  Its really good and filling. It can be had for brunch or occasional dinner too. Hope you guys would enjoy this as much as we did.

INGREDIENTS :

4 Flour Tortillas

4 Eggs

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese 

1 Tsp Hot Sauce

1 Tsp Black Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

For Bean

1 15ounce Can Black Bean or

11/2 Cups Cooked Black Bean

1/4 Cup Chicken Stock or 

1 Chicken Buillion Cube

For Salsa

1 Small Onion 

2  Big Tomatoes

1 Jalapeno Pepper or 2 Green Chillies

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1 Tblsp Lemon Juice

METHOD:

Prepare Bean:

Heat a cooking pan and add the rinsed and drained black bean with the chicken stock, check for salt and pepper and cook on medium low flame, break the beans a little and cook until the stock is absorbed. If using chicken buillion cube, add 1/4 cup water along with this and cook them.

Prepare Salsa:

Chop onion, tomatoes and jalapeno into small pieces. Add chopped coriander leaves to this. Mix in lemon juice and salt.

Fry Eggs:

  In a pan fry the eggs sunny-side up (bulls-eye) and season with salt and black pepper.

In a pan, heat the tortillas on both sides.

  Now arrange each tortilla on to plates. Divide the black bean equally onto the four tortillas. Spoon on salsa over the bean. Place an egg on top of this, drizzle some hot sauce and cheddar cheese on top and sprinkle chopped coriander. Now  heuvos rancheros is ready to be served.

Basundi

Anything I have heard about this sweet is alI through the jokes and stories published in Ananda Vikatan (Tamil Weekly), and in tv dramas where the protaganist goes to a restaurant and order for basundi. There are a variety of sweets available and native to our town, so that we, or I, never felt that any treats were never needed from outside my locality.

Finally, my mom made this one day, from a recipe book which had come with our mixer. Personally, I have made this once or twice and after soooo long, I've made this, and that too with a twist that was created from what was originally supposed to be rasamalai. 

The twist was to add some baked and shredded ricotta cheese. If you don't have ricotta you can add khoa or just exclude the whole thing.

 This new ingredient added an exotic touch to this rich sweet, and I thought of sharing this new recipe with my readers. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS :

3 Cups Whole Milk

3/4 Cup Sugar+2 Tblsp

3/4 Cup Heavy Cream

1/4 Cup Ricotta Cheese

Pinch of Saffron

4 Green Cardamoms (powdered)

2+1 Tblsp Chopped Pistachios

METHOD :

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix 2 tablespoon sugar to the ricotta cheese and spread in a small tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 mins or until the surface starts to turn brown.

Remove from oven and let it cool.

Heat the milk in a deep pan along with sugar, 2 tablespoons powdered pistachios, powdered cardamom and a pinch of saffron. Keep stirring as needed until the milk thickens and reduces to half its quantity.

The saffron gives that yellow color and the flavor along with cardamom.

Once done, remove from stove and strain the whole thing. Once it's warm, mix in the cream and the baked shredded ricotta.

Cool completely and chill for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Serve with chopped nuts and a strand (or two) of saffron on top.

Avocado Almond Chutney

Some avocadoes were sitting in the refrigerator for quite some time. The week went by so fast that there wasn't enough time to even think of making use of it. However, I managed to find a recipe for it when I decided to forgo the routine chutney for dosa and try something new.

Brainstorming lead to this idea and so I gave it a try! But believe me, my kids loved it and insisted eating with both their dosa and chappathi (the next day's dinner). I used almonds, which can also be substituted with grated coconut. The color might not seem too appealing, but the taste is what matters, and in that department, this chutney did not dissappoint!

INGREDIENTS :

1Avocado

1/2 Cup Almond soaked and de skinned

1 Small Onion 

4 Green Chillies

2 Cloves Garlic

1/2 Tsp Tamarind Paste

Salt to taste

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

4 Tsp Oil

METHOD :

 Cut the avocado, remove the seed and scoop out the pulp. Mash it thoroughly with a fork and keep aside.

 Heat a pan over medium heat and pour two teaspoons oil to it. Once hot, add the chopped onion and green chillies and fry until light brown. Add the garlic cloves and coriander leaves along with a pinch of salt and the tamarind paste. Fry this mixture for about two minutes.

Cool this mixture and grind in a coffee grinder or a small mixer. Half way through the grinding add the soaked almonds and grind it to a coarse paste.

 Add this to the mashed avocado and mix well. Add more salt and adjust taste as required.

Heat the other 2 teaspoons of oil, add mustard, curry leaves and the dried red chillies and season the chutney.

Chicken Kurma

Chicken Kurma is another beloved speciality of my mom's. I still remember those childhood days when my mom made this kurma. This is made to accompany ghee rice or coconut cream rice. Its fragrant aroma always fills the house, and even wafts down half the street (believe me). Her key ingredient is white pepper powder, which gives that added bite of flavor. You can use black pepper powder if you don't have white and also you can grind two teaspoons of poppy seeds along with coconut to get that extra richness.

The potatoes in the gravy provide extra creaminess. You can make vegetarian kurma by adding vegetables like potatoes, carrots, cauliflower or peas.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb Chicken

2" Inch Piece Cinnamon

2 Green Cardamoms

4 Cloves

1 Small Bay Leaf

2 Tblsp Oil

2 Onions

1 Small Tomato

4 Green Chillies

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

2 Tsp Ginger Garlic Paste

1 Medium Potato cut into pieces

To Grind:

1/4 Cup Grated Coconut

2 Tsp Coriander Powder

2 Tsp White Pepper Powder

1 Tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 Tsp Garam Masala Powder

Salt to taste

METHOD:

  Clean and cut the chicken into medium size pieces.

   Make a smooth paste of the items given under "to grind" along with water as needed.

Heat a deep pan on medium flame. Add oil once the pan is hot enough and fry the  whole spices cinnamon, cardamom, clove and bay leaf. Then add the finely chopped onion along with a pinch of salt (this lets the onion sweat and helps brown quicker). Once it turns light brown add the slit green chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute or two.

Then add the chopped tomato and let it wilt, about 3 minutes.

Potatoes are added now and fry for a minute.

Now add the chicken pieces along with 1/4 tsp salt give a nice stir and let it turn color.

Now its time to add the ground coconut spice paste. Stir everything together and add 1/4 cup or little less water (depends how liquidy the ground paste is) and bring it to a boil. Now reduce flame and cook with a closed lid for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Take care and stir in between because the coconut paste tend to stick to the bottom and might burn.

Once the chicken gets cooked add more water if needed, check for salt and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. This kurma is an excellent combination for coconut cream rice though it can be served with chappathi or roti.