A quick sweet treat!!

I love desserts. I try to find different ways of making it interesting. One of my favorite and quick desserts is Fillo dough chocolate cups. Easy to make especially when you are entertaining a big group and don't want to spend much time in making dessert.

Ingredients:

6 Fillo sheets.

1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips.

1 Teaspoon Orange Zest.

Little bit of Vanilla essence.

1 Cup shredded Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate.

Whipped cream.

1 Teaspoon of unsalted butter.

Procedure:

Arrange Fillo sheets one over the other applying butter after every layer. It is very important to keep the fillo sheets moist as they are very easy to break.

Cut 6 equal portion of the sheet stack. Arrange each portion in a mini-muffin pan making small cups ouf of the sheets.

Melt together chocolate, orange zest and vanilla over a double boiler. Set to cool.

Bake the fillo cups at 350 Degrees in oven till they are golden brown. It would just take 5-10 minutes.

Once the filo cups are cool, fill in the cups with chocolate filling.

Decorate with Whipped cream and semi sweet chocolate chips.

Grilled Veggie Panini

I love sandwiches and I love Italian food. So according to transitive property of equality I love Italian - Sandwiches...aka Paninis.

Essentially Panini is nothing but nice rustic bread, fresh pesto, olive oil, mozzarella cheese and any filling you want. It could be grilled chicken, salmon or salami. I, being a veggie lover would stick to grilled Veggie Panini.


Pesto:

1/4 Cup of olive oil.

1 Cup of fresh basil.

1/2 Cup of grated parmesan reggiano cheese.

1 Teaspoon of black pepper.

Salt to taste.

4-5 Garlic Cloves.

Grind all the ingredients to make smooth and creamy pesto.

Ingredients:

1 focaccia or Sourdough roll.

2 large Onions cut in rings.

1 Zucchini cut in thin strips.

1 Red bell Pepper. Cut in long strips.

1 Roll of fresh mozzarella cheese in water.Cut in thin slices.

1/2 Teaspoon of dried oregano.

1/2 Teaspoon of dried Basil.

1/2 Teaspoon of dried Parsley.

1/2 Teaspoon of black pepper.

Salt to taste.

Store bought salad mix.

Some sprouts (See if you get Alfalfa sprouts).

Procedure:

Slice the bread in half.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and apply the mixture on cut veggies for couple of minutes.

Heat the pan on high heat. Spray on the non-stick spray.

Sizzle the veggies till you see grill marks on them.

Apply pesto on both the slices inside.

Set the grilled veggies on the sandwich.

Set couple of slices of mozzarella cheese on the veggies.

Set a bed of sprouts on the cheese layer.

Close the sandwich and grill it for 2 mins. You can use the sandwich maker to do the same. Do not lock if you are using sandwich maker. You can gently press it against the sandwiches.

Grill it till you see cheese oozing out of it.

Tastes great with side salad of radish and greens.

Bharali Vangi ...aka Stuffed Brinjal

I grew up in a small town on the banks of river Krishna in Maharashtra. We used to buy fresh vegetables everyday from farmers those days. There were no refrigerators, no preservatives. It was really all natural.

I get the same feeling when I go to Farmers' market every Sunday. This Sunday I bought nice tiny green brinjals. Decided to make Bharali Vangi maharashtra special!!.


Preparation time : 20 minutes.
Serves 4 adults.

Ingredients:

5-6 Small size brinjals.

1-2 Small potatoes.

1 Cup of freshly grated coconut.

2 Large Onions finesly chopped.

1 Cup Coriander chopped.

3 Tablespoons of Cumin powder.

3 Tablespoons of Coriander powder.

2 Tablespoons of red chilly powder.

1 Heap spoon of tamarind juice

1/4 Cup Jaggary

2 Tablespoons of garam masala.

2 Tablespoons of Ginger Garlic paste.

3 Tablespoons of Goda Masala.

Salt to taste.

Curry leaves

2-3 Red chilies.

1 Teaspoon of oil.

1 Teaspoon of musturd.

1 Teaspoon of cumin.

1 Teaspoon of Turmeric powder.

Procedure:

Cut 4 slits per brinjal and soak them in water for 10 mins.

Cut Potatoes in small cubes and soak in the water for 10 mins.

Combine coconut,onions, ginger garlic paste, and all the dry ingredients except musturd and cumin.

Add tamarind to the mixture.

Stuff brijals with the above mixture.

Heat oil in the pan.

Add musturd, cumin, turmeric powder and red chilies.

Add stuffed brijals and potatoes once it is hot.

Close and let it cook for 1 minute.

Add jaggary alone with the rest of the mixture, cover the brijals and cook for 5-6 mins on medium heat.

Add salt to taste.

Tastes best with Jawar Roti.

Sol Kadhi....Home's calling....

Sol Kadhi is specialty of Konkan.Simple but exotic. Kokam (Garcinia indica) is basically a fruit in plum family with pretty bitter juice. This juice is used by Ayurveda as an antacid. The dried shell of the fruit is used in flavoring curries in Maharashtrian cooking. It is similar to how south Indian cuisine uses tamarind for little sour taste. You can get the Kokam extract as well as the dried shell in Indian markets. Here in US though I haven't seen it in many stores. Some of the organic stores have it as kokam Juice. For detailed information about 'how it's made'

Preparation time - 5 minutes.
Serving - 2 adults.

Ingredients:

1 cup Kokam Juice (Without Sugar).

2 cans of Coconut milk (You can opt to make coconut milk from grated coconut; but why bother?

6 cloves of Garlic.

4 Green Chilies.

salt to taste .

Coriander for garnishing.

Procedure:

Mix coconut milk with kokam juice. It should get the baby pink color. Adjust kokam to get to that color.

Grind Garlic, green chilies and salt together. It adds a strong garlic kick!!

Mix everything together and garnish with coriander.

Tastes best with Mung-Dal khichadhi!Garnish with coriander leaves.