His Royal Persian Highness ~ Shahi Falooda!

 

I never really understood if Falooda needs to be slurrped first or to be eaten first, in any case you need to do both! Haha! I'm definitely not a big fan of ice-cream (surprised!).  Even in scorching summer months I prefer to stick to popsicles and make myself fresh fruit juices than fall for ice-cream.  The only form of Kulfi or ice-cream that I really gorge on is when it has been added to my favorite Shahi Falooda, also known as Royal Falooda in some places. 

Badshah's Variety

My earliest memories of Falooda are from our friendly neighborhood juice center.  As a kid, it was a "royal" privilege to be treated to Falooda (as mom really watched those calories I put in, but i guess all in vain :P).  For my birthday, we would often go to Crawford Market in south Bombay to buy return gifts for my party.  As though buying return gifts and in return buying a whole load of South east asian made school stationary stuff for me, wasn't quite thrilling enough, we had to have more.  The real show stealer of the trip was a stop at to our favorite restaurant Badshah~the best Falooda place in town (hopefully till date)!!!   Just as the name would suggest Badshah's "Royal Badshah Falooda" was an ultimate regal indulgence!!!

Though I haven’t been to Badshah in years, I still crave a good Falooda.  Even more so after my terrible Falooda experience quite recently at the same friendly neighborhood juice center.  Either my standards have changed drastically or he has dropped his quality by leaps and bounds.  Plainly put it disappointed me to great lengths but also motivated me to come home and make my very own Falooda the very next day!  With a little help of creativity and remembering what Badshah’s Falooda tasted like, I came up with my own ~ Shahi Falooda!  Do give it a royal try and you wouldn’t regret it J

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

400 ml cold milk (skim or full)

½ cup falooda sev or vermicelli noodles

6 tsp rose syrup (rooafzah or mapro)

2 tsp falooda seeds (also called takmaria or sabjah or basil seeds)

2 cups Strawberry Jelly (or any other flavor you prefer)

¼ cup mixed dry fruits (cashew, almonds, raisins and pistachio)

¼ cup tutti-frutti (dried fruit peels or dehydrated fruits)

4 scoops of Kesar Pista ice-cream (or kulfi, or any other flavor, preferably not chocolate)

Method:

1. Soak the sabjah seeds in water for at least 1 hour. 
2. Boil the noodles/sev in water for about 5 minutes (optionally add yellow food color to make it colorful). Drain the water, and run it under ice cold water and keep aside. 
3. Finely chop dry fruits.
4. To assemble Falooda: In a tall glass, place ½  cup jelly at the bottom, top with noodles, Rose syrup and sabjah seeds.  Pour in 100 ml milk, top with a scoop of ice-cream or kulfi.  
5. Decorate with Tutti-frutti and chopped dry fruits.   
6. Eat or slurp or alternate between both, enjoy! J

Do read more about Badshah Falooda at the following blog~ http://onlybombay.blogspot.com/2008/12/badshah-falooda-crawford-market-mumbai.html

Plum Rasam~ a tangy twist!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup plums chopped
1/2 cup masoor dal
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp asafetida
Salt to taste
For Rasam Powder
3 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp toor dal
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
4 medium size dry red chili
1/2 tsp oil
For Tempering
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 small red chili
1 tsp ghee
3-4 curry leaves
cilantro - chopped for garnish

Method:

1. Roast and grind the rasam powder finely.
2. Boil masoor dal with turmeric powder. Keep it aside.
3. Then boil the chopped plums separately in 2 cups water with salt.
4. To the plums mixture, add asafetida, rasam powder and the masoor dal. 
5. In a separate pan, temper mustard seeds and curry leaves and add it to the rasam.
6. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Note: If you like your Rasam slightly on the sweeter side or if your Plums are very tart, add 1 - 2 tsp Sugar or Jaggery to adjust the taste.  Also if you prefer a runnier Rasam, add an additional cup of water and adjust salt.

 

Happy Cooking :)

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Watermelon Jelly~ a successful experiment!

Ingredients:

1 cup Watermelon puree
1 medium Peach, skinned and pureed
1 Tbsp Lime juice
6 tsp Sugar
1 tsp gelatin soaked in Tbsp warm water

Method:

1. Add pureed watermelon and peach to a sauce pan.
2. Mix in lime juice and sugar. Stir continuously.
3. When water begins to evaporate, add gelatin mix and continue to stir for 10 – 15 minutes till all water evaporates.
4. Transfer this mixture to a plate and let it set in the refrigerator for a few hours or at room temperature overnight.
5. Cut into pieces or store it as a jam/preserve in a bottle.

Happy Cooking :)

When life gives you Watermelon~ grill it!

Watermelon is hands-down my favorite fruit!! I don’t particularly need a summer to enjoy this delicious, fleshy, thirst quenching, delightfully red fruit.  But I do enjoy it the most in the scorching months of summer.  A large amount of my summery lunches are often replaced by a bowl full of this succulent fruit, evening tea is substituted with Watermelon juice and desert at night is the most satisfying Watermelon Sorbet! J  

The juicy nature and bright contrasting colors, automatically makes it a star attraction at every BBQ!! But have you ever thrown it on the grill?? Who knew that this gorgeous fruit had the capacity to turn into a lightly caramelized wonder, just when slightly grilled! It’s hot on the outside but jumping with goodness within.  Combine it with a salty cheese like Feta or Goat Cheese, a few greens and you have created yourself a Gourmet delight!

My favorite Watermelon Salad combinations are~

• Watermelon balls, tossed with finely chopped Mint leaves and Crumbled Feta Cheese.
• Watermelon cubes on a skewer, alternated with Paneer and Pineapple, sprinkled with Chaat Masala.
• Grilled Watermelon filets on a bed of Watercress, topped with crumbled Goat Cheese and drizzled with a reduction of Honey Balsamic Vinegar. 
• Small cubes or balls of watermelon combined with torn up Iceberg Lettuce, Blue Cheese (if you prefer), Roasted Walnuts and a dressing with Extra Virgin Olive oil and Red Wine Vinegar. 

Last evening I grilled again and actually had to combine a lot of the above ideas into one salad!  I had Iceberg Lettuce and Feta and Balsamic Vinegar and Honey.  It still turned out as succulently delicious as I had anticipated it to be.  Here’s the recipe~

Grilled Watermelon Salad

Ingredients:

1 small seedless watermelon, cut into 8 square slices (less than 2.5 kgs, about 5 lbs.)
2 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper
1 small Iceberg Lettuce, hand torn
¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp Honey
1 cup crumbled Feta cheese

Mint leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Preheat grill.
2. Brush watermelon slices with oil.  Season with salt and pepper. Grill watermelon 1-2 minutes on each side.
3. In a small sauce pan reduce balsamic vinegar until its half its quantity, add honey and heat until bubbly.  Set aside to cool.  
4. In a medium bowl, toss lettuce with vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
5. To assemble, layer a bed of lettuce leaves, top with grilled watermelon, sprinkle each grilled watermelon slice with feta cheese. Drizzle some more honey balsamic vinegar and garnish with mint leaves. Enjoy :)

My next recipe adventure with Watermelon is gonna be Watermelon Salsa, which I have never tasted before, but just going over the various flavors, I can already begin to feel a wave inside of me….wish me luck :)

and Happy Cooking :)

Ringa Ringa Lauki~

Bottle Gourd, better known as Dudhi in Bombay or Lauki towards the north of India belongs to the Squash family.  Getting creative with Lauki can be tough one!  Its a bland vegetable and easily voted one the most hated veggie by kids, teenagers and adults alike.  I'm not kidding, haven't you seen the recent ad by Cadbury's??   Lauki if masked as Koftas, Raita or Parathas may still be consumed but just on its own, is a tough one to please many!  Lucky for me its a much liked vegetable in my home!!

I have seen recipes for stuffed Lauki before, and even used it a as a replacement for Zucchini Rolls, used it in Pasta, to make Moroccon Stew and stir fried it with Chinese flavorings!  They all work well since Lauki takes on added flavors really well.  So next time your family refuses to eat any one vegetable, don't give up!  I'm sure brussel sprouts too can be creatively handled and devoured by everyone :P (no harm in wishful thinking!!)

Here's may take on Stuffed Lauki... hope you and your family enjoy this recipe~

Stuffed Lauki Rings

Ingredients:

½ kg Bottle Gourd (Lauki, Dudhi, Opo Squash)

1 cup Besan (gram flour)

½ cup grated Paneer

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Chili powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 Tbsp chopped Cilantro

¼ cup finely chopped green onions

½ tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste

To Sautee

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp Cumin seeds

Finely chopped green onions to garnish

Lemon wedges.

Method:

1)      Wash and Peel gourd.  Cut into 1 cm rounds.  Core then center of these rounds to make rings.  Reserve the cored center and chop them up finely. Lightly apply salt to the rings and keep them aside.

2)      Dry roast gram flour and let it cool. 

3)      To the gram flour add paneer, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, chopped cilantro and green onion.  Add finely chopped gourd core, add salt to taste and mix well, but use light hands. The mixture should remain crumbly and no become a dough.

4)      Stuff this mixture into gourd rings. 

5)      Use a steamer (I use Idli steamer) to steam stuffed gourd rings for 10 mins.

6)      Let it stand for 5 – 10 minutes. 

7)      Heat Oil is a frying pan, add cumin seeds and gently place steamed gourd rings.  Sautee them on one side until light golden and flip to repeat.  While in the pan, top with green onions and dash of lime. 

8)      Serve hot with Rotis or can be served as a starter with cilantro & mint chutney.

Happy Cooking :)

Blessings from a Cauliflower ~ a real flower!

June is here! Dating back childhood times, June (read Monsoon) was usually the time to say goodbye to dear old Spinach! I never knew why but my mother strongly believed that eating leafy veggies grown during the Monsoon is the root cause for many stomach infections! And it was actually true! Sigh!! But thanks to super-market shopping, things have changed around quite a bit and laying your hands on a packet of bagged baby spinach or already separated Methi is a maha-boon in Monsoon (and hey I can rhyme :P)!!

Monsoon is usually the best time to indulge in crunchy, deep-fried, forget-about-calories kinda snacks!! I realized over the years of yo-yo dieting, while going on and off various diets (of coz for weight-loss, what else!!) that the amount of weight lost in Summer equals double the weight gained during Monsoon!! It’s the perfect time to laze around at home, biting away into fried pakoras and vada pavs while you wash it down with a cup of extra sweetened masala chai, usually watching a down-pour from your window-sill (ahh!! I vote this hands-down “one of the best luxuries in life”)!  So as I was saying, over the years I have learnt that Monsoon can create havoc to your eating patterns and an adverse effect on your weight-loss plans (the one’s wanting to gain weight, enjoy!!), but I usually don’t give up so easily!  I started researching for recipes that will satisfy my craving for junk-food but equally have great nutrition value.  I went over a few hundred salad recipes (honestly salads work best in Summer), another thousand soup recipes (which again work best in Autumn or Winter), Monsoon yells out for fried food :P!!  I tried a lot of savory baking, trust me baked Samosa is nowhere close to the real thing!! And never mind the numerous failed baked pakora experiments, you can never get the same crunch that you get from deep-frying (bliss!) :D. 

Last Monsoon, while my experiments continued the entire season, on one particular rainy day in July, I happened to visit my dearest friend Zed, for a veggie lunch made by a hard-core non-vegetarian! (which he promised to cook from scratch for me!). I was obviously going with heavy amounts of prejudice, of how the food is gonna suck and I’m gonna have to pick up Vada Pavs on my way back home!! Some miracle transformed in Zed’s kitchen that day, he not only changed my opinion about his cooking skills but about the limitations of Cauliflower! :)

For the first time in my life, leave alone tasting this new dish, I couldn’t envision that Cauliflower could be altered into this binge-friendly, awesomness-filled, finger-licking good Kheema! Kheema being a non-vegetarian terrain, as a vegetarian I have tried and tested it with Paneer, Soya granules and Tofu.  But to think of using Cauliflower to make Kheema, hats off boss!  While I was going ga-ga over this recipe, Zed informed me that I had washed off the whole batch of Cauliflower Kheema he had made and left nothing for our other friends (oops :P)! Well, it’s not like I couldn’t conceive the recipe, once I knew the ingredients, but I really wanted to eat more, so Zed and I made another batch of Cauliflower Kheema for all of us!  

Let me put all your wonderment to rest and explain to you what really happened that day!  It was pouring cats and dogs as usual, and I had resolved to not put another fried stuff in my mouth the entire season (sigh sigh sigh!! Damn you resolutions!).  Zed promised me he would cook me something really tangy, flavorsome, and nutritiously whole-some, piping-hot that could be eaten with Pav, and he assured me I would forget all about my fried food cravings.  Zed’s Cauliflower Kheema did all that and more!  It was bursting with flavor; it was like a match made in heaven for Laadi Pav!  And a sweetheart that he is, he ordered Multigrain Pavs for me, so that I wouldn’t crib and cry after I over indulged.  While he kept his promise to the T, I discovered my secret weapon to craving times during the monsoon. I couldn’t believe I was missing this all these years! I probably made Cauliflower Kheema every time it rained last year, and never got fed up of it, thanks to a zillion experimentations again!

Ironically, just a few days back, I happened to see Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor’s show on FoodFood and he demonstrated the same Cauliflower Kheema on his show…now I really doubt Zed’s creativity and the source of his recipe (which he said was original) is quite questionable! :D

 Zed’s recipe has been altered quite a bit by me, I had to cut down on a lot of ghee and make it absolutely guilt-free snacking! Here’s the recipe~

Cauliflower Kheema

Ingredients:

½ kg cauliflower

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

4 – 5 garlic pods, finely chopped (optional)

4 – 5 green chilies, finely chopped

A pinch of hing (asafetida)

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)

1 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp Garam Masala Powder

Water as required

1 Tbsp Ghee (or use oil if you prefer)

Salt to taste

Chopped Cilantro and Lemon Wedges to Garnish

Laadi Pav as accompaniment

Method:

1)      Wash and stem Cauliflower.  Grate it finely and keep aside.

2)      In a wok or large Kadai, heat ghee.  When hot add cumin seeds, followed by fennel seeds.

3)      Add hing, followed by onion green chilies and garlic (optional).  Let the onion cook until it is translucent. 

4)      Add turmeric powder and stir well.  Add tomatoes, chili powder, coriander powder and half of the garam masala powder and salt to taste.  Sautee will until ghee separates from this mixture. (about 5 minutes).

5)      Add Cauliflower and stir well.  Add sufficient water (2 – 3 cups if you want a thin gravy or 1 cup if you want to keep it dry).  Add the remaining garam masala powder, adjust seasoning, simmer and cook covered for 5minutes.

6)      Garnish with cilantro and lemon wedges.  Serve piping hot with Laadi Pav, Rotis or Bread!

Note: Do not over cook the Cauliflower as it becomes mushy, which destroys the Kheema like texture!

I have experimented with a lot of different options using Cauliflower as my main Kheema ingredient.  Ihave used mixed veggies, used only peas, I have used Paneer, Soya granules and Tofu again in combination with Cauliflower.  But each time I come back to the original, it tastes best made on its own!  Try it this Monsoon, or any time of the year! (BTW in Bombay best Cauliflower is available in Winter)…brewing an idea for Cauliflower Chili this Winter, topped with sour cream and sharp cheddar cheese....drooolll!! :P

Did you know Cauliflower is actually the flower of the Cauli plant?? On that note leme grab my Wheat Pav and burrow into the rest of the Kheema, while you start cooking!

Photo Credit:  mydiversekitchen.com

Happy Cooking :)