My Cook Book

Enjoy fruit carving art with me and make your own Heart&Roses wedding watermelon using my tutorial. The Heart&Roses design is good for Valentine Day as well. For making this pattern you need some carving tools like thai knife and round-shape knife.


Step 1. Choose a medium size round watermelon (5-6 kilo). Scratch a heart on a watermelon skin. Use a heart stencil to draw a nice one.

Cut a heart with a thai knife and remove green skin inside the heart silhouette cutting small pieces of skin.


Step 2. Carve a rose inside the heart. Then using a round-shape knife make slots. Cut from the heart edge toward the rose petals keeping the heart line.


Step 4. At this stage you carve a rose wreath around the green heart.

Ingredients

2 sprigs fresh mint
1 ounce simple syrup
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1-1/2 ounce Bacardi Silver rum
soda water

Tools

mixing glass
Collins glass
citrus squeezer
muddler
shaker
strainer

Preparation
1. Start with a sprig of mint in the bottom of a glass.

2. Add 1 ounce of simple syrup and 3/4 ounce of fresh-squeezed lime juice and muddle the mixture.

3. Add 1-1/2 ounce of Bacardi Silver rum and shake well with ice.

4. Strain over new ice in a Collins glass to remove the muddled mint pieces.

5. Top it off with soda water and garnish with a mint sprig.

Delightful for a party or even for a lazy Saturday brunch, this no-booze spin on a classic cocktail is fun to make and a tasty mix of flavors.
Makes two drinks.

Ingredients:
1/4 ruby or pink grapefruit, cut into small chunks and seeds removed
2 tbs. agave syrup or honey
12 fresh mint leaves, roughly torn
1/2 cup pink grapefruit soda or flavored mineral water, plus more as needed
mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions:
Put the grapefruit pieces, agave and mint in a cocktail shaker. Using a muddler, smash the fruit until the juice is released. Add one cup small ice cubes to the shaker with the half cup soda; attach the lid and shake furiously until combined. Divide between two rocks glasses, add more ice if desired, and top off with additional soda. Stir, garnish with mint sprigs and serve.

A grown-up take on lemonade, this non-alcoholic drink combines the fruitiness of raspberries with spicy ginger beer.
Makes about six drinks.

Ginger beer, non-alcoholic despite its name, can be found in the beverage/soda section of your supermarket. It has a much stronger bite than plain ginger ale and is great for mixing mocktails; it adds a spicy punch to anything you mix it with.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup water
2 bottles ginger beer
fresh raspberries or lemon wedges for garnish, optional

Directions:
Put the raspberries, honey, lemon juice and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the fruit has completely broken down, about five minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until cool. Pour the mixture into a fine mesh strainer set over a pitcher. Press the fruit solids with a rubber spatula to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard the fruit pulp.

To serve, fill a Collins glass with ice and pour three tablespoons of the raspberry syrup into the glass. Fill with ginger beer, stir, garnish with raspberries or a lemon wedge and serve immediately.

Prep time
30 mins

Cook time
30 mins

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients
for frying the paneer:

1.     200 gms paneer/cottage cheese
2.     ½ tsp black pepper powder or crushed pepper
3.     2 tbsp corn flour/corn starch
4.     salt as required

for the sauce

1.     1 tbsp soya sauce
2.     ½ tbsp chopped celery or 2 tsp dry celery
3.     2 crushed schezuan pepper
4.     ¼ cup chopped spring onions/scallions (reserve some greens for garnishing)
5.     ½ tbsp chopped ginger-garlic
6.     4-5 green chilies
7.     ¼ cup sliced capsicum
8.     ½ tsp vinegar
9.     ¾ to 1 cup veg stock or water
10.     ½ tsp black pepper powder or crushed black pepper
11.     2 tbsp sesame oil
12.     1 tbsp corn flour dissolved in 2 tbsp water – for the corn flour paste
13.     salt and sugar as required

Instructions
frying the paneer:

1.     mix the paneer with black pepper powder, salt and corn flour.
2.     shallow or deep fry till done.
3.     don’t overfry as the paneer might become hard.
4.     since we coat cornflour you won’t be seeing the paneer as browned.
5.     so don’t keep on frying to make it golden brown. the paneer will become hard.

preparing the sauce:

1.     heat sesame oil.
2.     now add the spring onions/scallions and stir fry till they become transparent.
3.     add the ginger-garlic and stir fry till the raw smell disappears.
4.     add the capsicum and green chilies and stir fry till the capsicum is half cooked.
5.     add black pepper & crushed schezuan pepper.
6.     pour the veg stock or water.
7.     add celery and stir.
8.     add soy sauce, sugar, black pepper, red chilli powder and salt.
9.     simmer.
10.     add cornflour paste.
11.     stir well and let the sauce thicken.
12.     add the fried paneer cubes and simmer them in the sauce for 1-2 minutes.
13.     garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot with veg fried rice.

Notes
to make the sauce more thick, add some more cornflour paste.
if the sauce has become too thick, then add some veg stock or water to thin it down.

I made this chilli paneer for hubby as i don’t want to deprive him of eating his favorite paneer. he loves paneer dishes. chilli paneer is also hubb’s fav dish.

here is my version of making this famous indo chinese recipe at home. this is a not a dry recipe of chilli paneer but the gravy version. dry chilli paneer recipe will be posted in some time.

i used home made paneer to make the spicy chilli paneer. you can also use good quality store brought paneer.

i generally don’t add msg – mono sodium gluatamate or chinese salt to any of the indo chinese recipes i make at home. so the taste will be not restaurant style or like the chinese food we get at the chinese food stalls in india. nevertheless they are healthier and nutritious.

Presenting a step by step recipe for making chilli paneer with recipe details mentioned below:

1: in a bowl take the cornflour and salt. toss the paneer pieces in this mixture well so that the cornflour coats the paneer cubes well.
2: shallow fry or pan fry the paneer cubes. the corn flour coating gives a nice white color to the paneer.
3: drain on kitchen paper tissues.
4: heat sesame oil and stir fry the spring onions till transparent.
5: add the chopped ginger, garlic. stir fry till the raw aroma of these disappear.
6: now add the capsicum and green chilies.
7: stir fry these.
8: stir fry till the capsicum is almost half cooked and add black pepper & crushed schezuan pepper. if you don’t have schezuan pepper, then just don’t add
9: add veg stock or water along with some fresh or dry celery. i have added dry celery (sun dried at home)
10: add soy sauce, salt, sugar and simmer.
11:  add corn starch paste to thicken the gravy.
12: i also felt that i needed to add some red chilli powder as well. so here goes the red chilli powder.
13: simmer till the corn starch gets cooked and the gravy is thickened. add vinegar & the fried paneer cubes.
14: lastly simmer for 1-2 minutes…
16: serve the chilli paneer garnished with scallion greens with fried rice or naan. i served the chilli paneer with veg fried rice.

 this is an italian recipe of an easy, simple and a no fuss herb bread made from a combo of whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and olive oil.

the herbs which i have added to the bread are fresh basil, fresh parsley and dry rosemary along with sun dried tomatoes.

the result is a chewy, dense and aromatic bread flavored with the herbs and sun dried tomatoes. if you make the bread totally with all purpose flour/maida, then the bread won’t be chewy and dense.
 lets begin with the step by step method of making herb bread:
ingredients

    1 1/2 cup flour
    1/2 cup all purpose flour/maida
    2 tbsp olive oil
    1 tsp dry yeast
    1/2 cup water
    1/4 tsp sugar
    3/4 cup chopped fresh herbs or dry herbs - rosemary, basil, parsley
    8-9 sundried tomatoes, chopped (optional)
    salt as required
    sea salt flakes or rock salt for finishing
    fresh rosemary leaves or dry rosemary for finishing

method:

    proof the yeast by adding it to the 1/2 cup warm water & sugar mixture.
    keep in a warm place till the mixture bubbles.
    mix the chopped herbs, sundried tomatoes, olive oil and salt together.
    add the flours and mix well.
    now add the yeast mixture and continue to mix.
    add some 1 or 2 tbsp water if required to bind the dough.
    knead into a smooth and pliable dough. the dough should not be sticky.
    rub olive oil all over the dough and keep it covered in a bowl for 30-40 minutes till it doubles in size.
    knead again and then make round or oval buns.
    make a criss cross pattern on the buns with a knife.
    sprinkle some salt and rosemary leaves on the bread.
    bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 20-25 minutes or till the bread becomes browned.
    serve warm.  

1: the proofing needs to be done first. mix the sugar with warm water. add the dry yeast to this mixture. stir and leave in a warm place for the 15 minutes or till the mixture becomes frothy.
2: mix the chopped fresh herbs, dry rosemary, sun dried tomatoes, salt and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.
3: add both the flours to this and mix together.
4: now add the yeast mixture and mix everything together.
5: add some warm water if required and knead into a smooth dough on a lightly floured surface. the dough should not be sticky.
6: put the dough back into the same bowl. apply olive oil over the dough.
7: cover with a cling film and leave in a warm place for 30-40 minutes or until the dough becomes double in size.
8: the risen dough after 1 hour
9: knead again until smooth and elastic. make round or oval shapes of the dough and arrange them on an oiled sheet. slightly make a criss cross pattern on the top of each loaf with a knife.
10: cover loosely with a lid and keep again in a warm place for 15-20 minutes or until well risen. preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. brush the bread buns with little olive oil, sprinkle some rosemary leaves and salt. bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. the base should sound hollow when they are tapped.
13: serve warm.