Lemon Dry fruits nuts Biscotti

I love Foodnetwork,one among my fav is "Giada De Laurentiis's Everyday Italian".Once i saw her Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti.Inspired by her biscotti,i decided to make a try with the ingredients with me.
In Italian, the word "biscotto" means "biscuit" or "cookie." More specifically, biscotti are named according to their original method of baking. The root words "bis" and "cotto" literally mean "twice" and "baked." Biscotti are first baked in a loaf, then sliced and toasted. This second trip to the oven draws off moisture, and results in a crisp, dry texture, and a long shelf life. There are many different varieties of biscotti, with some being cake-like in texture, while some are very crisp and dry. Traditionally, Biscotti were almond-flavored because almonds were plentiful. Biscotti are available in a myriad of different flavors like chocolate, hazelnut , dried red cherries, raisins, cinnamon, fennel or poppy seeds, allspice, mace, citrus zest, ground toasted nuts, mini dark or white chocolate chips. Popular today is to dip one side in melted chocolate.Their unique texture makes them perfect to dunk in your coffee or tea, or wine after dinner.Because of the baking process, Biscotti have a very long life may be 6 months.No need to refrigerate biscotti , store them in an airtight container.if they lose their crispness, simply toast them in a low oven (250 degrees) for a few minutes until they’re crunchy again. If they’re too hard or dry, place them on low power setting in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften them up.Here's My style of Biscotti..
Lemon Dryfruits Nuts Biscotti


Ingredients...
All purpose flour 1.5cup
Whole wheat flour 1.5cup
Softened butter 3tbsp
(for healthier version,add olive oil)
Baking powder 1tsp
Finely grated zest of 2 medium lemons
Sugar 3/4cup
Vanilla extract 1/2tsp
Lemon juice 2tsp
Eggs 2
(for healthier version,add eggs whites only)
salt 1/4tsp
Cashew,pistachio,pecans 1/2cup
Dates ,deseeded and chopped 8 nos
Tuuti frutti 1/4tsp
Dried apricots 1/4cup

Method..
Preheat oven to 350F.In a bowl seive flours , baking powder and salt,Add nuts and dried fruits and stir well to mix.In a large bowl,beat sugar,butter ,vanilla,lemon zest and lemon juice still creamy and fluffy.Pour dry ingredients into wet and mix well.Scoop the dough into a lightly floured surface.Divide into two parts,shape it into a log about 9" long - transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment and flatten until it is about 1/2" to 3/4" thick.Place the logs of dough on the baking sheet, making sure they are not too close to each other or to the sides of the pan. With the palm of your hand, press down gently to flatten the logs. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the logs are well risen and have spread to about double their size. The logs are done when, pressed with a fingertip, they feel firm. Place the pan on a rack to cool the logs completely. cut the log into 1/2" to 3/4" thick diagonal slices.Arrange the biscotti on the prepared pans, cut side down. It isn't necessary to leave space between them. Bake the biscotti for about 15 or 20 minutes or until they are dry and lightly golden.Remember, they will continue to crisp up as they cool. Cool on the pan on a rack.
Store the cooled biscotti between sheets of parchment or wax paper in a air tight container. Sending this Biscotti Jhiva for ingredients : Lime/Lemon

Salmon Chilli

Salmon chilli /Salmon masala is what i like to call this dish..This is one of my friends recipe,who 's great cook.She cooks everything so quickly and ofcourse very tastely.I met here in seattle during last winter.Happen to stay at her place for about a week .It was a wonderful time with a new friend ,in a new place with sumptous foods.Coming back to dish,this is not a chinese dish.'S' call it as Indian Style Fish chilli. Consuming salmon is considered to be reasonably healthy due to the fish's high protein, low fat, high Omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D.Seafood lovers like me would definietly enjoy having this variety dish...
Ingredients...
Salmon cut in to small pieces - 1 pounds
Chopped Onions - 3
Tomatoes chopped - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 4 tsp
Green Chillies chopped - 6
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Red Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Garam Masala powder- 1 tsp
(I use a blend of 1 nutmeg, 1 1/2 tsp green cardamom pods, 4 " cinnamon sticks, 1 Tbsp whole cloves, 1 tsp peppercorns & 1 tsp cumin seeds all ground together )
Cilantro chopped- 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2tsp
Extra oil for shallow frying Fish

For the marinade...
Red chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tspSalt - to taste
Make a smooth paste with all the ingredients for the marinade adding little water and keep it aside.
Method...

Add 1tsp lime juice and 1/4tsp of turmeic powder in 1 cup of water and immerse the fish pieces in it for about 5 minutes,to reduce that fishy smell.Then take it out of the water and pat dry with tissue.Gently marinate the fish pieces in the prepared marinade for 30 minutes.Then Shallow fry fish pieces and keep aside.
Heat oil in a big pan .Add chopped onion and fry until translucent,then add ginger,garlic and green chillies and saute it for 5-6 minutes.Add in coriander powder,turmeric powder, chilly powder and fry for a while.Mix in yogurt and saute it until oil seperates.Add garam masala powder and salt,stir and add chopped tomatoes.Cook until tomatoes turn soft,and add fried fish pieces.Mix well and cook for about 20 minutes in low heat,stirring in between.Finally add chopped coriander ,cook for 5 more minutes and remove from heat.

Tandoori Chicken

'Tandoori Chicken' is an Indian style BBQ chicken.Traditionally prepared in 'Tandoor',an underground jar shaped clay oven,in which food is cooked over a hot charcoal fire,believed to have originated from Persia.Oven can be heated to high temperatures ,delicious dishes like 'Tandoori chicken' ,Naan or tandoori Roti can be made.Tandoori chicken is a dish that originated in India. The chicken is marinated in a yogurt seasoned with either prepared tandoori masala, traditionally cooked at high temperatures in an tandoor oven but can also be prepared on a conventional oven or BBQ.Check out the Interesting story about Tandoori chicken here .Here goes an easy recipe....
Ingredients..
6 pieces Chicken Drumsticks
1Tsp Ginger- garlic and green chilli paste
1/2 Cup Yogurt
Salt, to taste
1 Tsp Red chilli powder
1 Tsp Paprika
1/2 Tsp Garam masala Or MDH Tandoori masala powder
(I use a blend of 1 nutmeg, 1 1/2 tsp green cardamom pods, 4 " cinnamon sticks, 1 Tbsp whole cloves, 1 tsp peppercorns & 1 tsp cumin seeds all ground together )
1/2 Tsp Coriander powder
1/2 Tsp Cumin powder
1 Dash Lemon juice
Method..
Remove the skin from chicken and wash them thoroughly.Prepare a marinate by mixing all the ingredients except chicken pieces in a bowl.Marinate chicken pieces in this mixture ,cover it with plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator for minimum 2 hours.If possible keep it over night.Take out from refrigerator ,one hour before cooking it, bring it to room temperature.Preheat the oven for 375 F ,place the chicken pieces in low rack for about 20 min,then turn over and cook for another 10 min,so that they cook well on both sides.If chicken pieces are getting dry,baste it with little ghee.Serve hot with Naan .

Banana Pudding

Thick and creamy vanilla flavoured pudding layered with vanilla wafers and banana slices.....what else can we think about a comfort dessert than this "Traditional Southern Style Banana Pudding".This unique pudding comes from Southern part of US,an ultimate comfort food, easy to make just with few ingredients and taste fabulous. One interesting thing I found was that in North Carolina band called 'Southern Culture on Skids' actually performs a song during some of their concerts called Banana Pudding accompanied by throwing banana pudding on their audience, sounds crazy isn't....

Banana Pudding

Yields 10 - 12 servings

Ingredients

Whole milk 4cups
Sugar 2cups
Softened Butter 4tbs
Egg yolks 4
All purpose flour 1/2cup
Banana 5-6
Vanilla wafers 1box
Salt 1/8tsp
Vanilla extract 2tsp

Method..

For making Custard...Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl, and stir well to mix. Mash out any flour lumps with the back of your spoon and Set aside.In a bowl ,beat the egg yolks with fork or whisk .Just beat them well ,don't use hand beater.In a heavy bottomed pan,add butter ,then combined sugar,flour and salt mixture,egg yolks and milk , Cook, stirring constantly to avoid lumps and until the mixture thickens to the consistency of pudding on medium heat for about 5 - 10 Min's.Peel the bananas,slice into 3inch rounds .In a casserole or pudding tray,arrange vanilla wafers from edge to edge in row.Place the round sliced bananas now.Don't stint and put one slice of banana per wafer. Line those banana slices up edge-to-edge. Pour, spreading as necessary, half of the custard over the banana layer. Put down another layer of vanilla wafers, another layer of banana slices, and cover with the remaining custard. Ready to serve...Just serve right away or place in refrigerator for several hours ,press plastic wrap onto the surface of the warm puddings to prevent a skin from forming .Just before serving garnish with whipped cream,tutti fruiti ,cherries or grated chocolate as u wish...

For addition...

Beat the egg whites at high speed until they form soft peaks. Add the cream of tartar. At high speed, gradually add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the vanilla into the meringue, and spread the meringue over the pudding, sealing it at the sides of the dish. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until meringue browns, 12 to 15 minutes.

Chemeen Peera

Chemmen is the most popular seafood in the World especially in Kerala.Prawns /shrimps are very healthy choice of food as they are extremely good source of protein, and very low in fat as well as calories. They also contain high level of vitamin that are essential for healthy skin, bones and teeth.In kerala,many variety of dishes are made with prawns,like Chemmen Theeyal,Chemmen Roast,Prawns Biriyani,Chemmen Vada...options are endless.Recently one of my friend made Chemmen Peera .Though I'm keralite,i wasn't aware that 'peera' can be made with Prawns also. Usually I make Meen peera with Smelt (Neetholi)or Sardines(Mathi).'Peera' is fish cooked with spices and coconut mix.Its an authentic kerala style dish with all spices ,coconut and curry leaves and which no masala is used. I'm sending to Radhika for JFI: Onion event.
Ingredients...
Prawns 1 lb
Grated Coconut 1/2cup
Red chilly powder 2-3tbsp
Turmeric powder 1/2tsp
Green chillies 5 nos
Shallots(small onions)15
Ginger 1inch piece
Curry leaves 1sprig
Coconut oil 3tsp
Salt to taste
Method...
Clean the prawns thoroughly,it should be peeled and deveined.Cut shallots into thin slices.Chop green chillies and ginger.In a pan ,put prawns,shallots,grated coconut,Green chilly,ginger,red chilly powder,turmeric powder,curry leaves,2tsp of coconut oil,salt.Cover it and cook for 15-20 Min's.Sprinkle some water if needed.Don't add too much water, coz prawns has moisture content .Once all water is evaporated,remove from flame.Add 1tsp of coconut oil and curry leaves at the end.Peera made in 'Man chatti' /Earthen pot taste more good than normal kadai's.If u don't like coconut oil,use any Vegetable oil.

Kerala Porota and Chicken Roast

The Spice Garden of India,Kerala got its name from the word "Kera" means coconut.A land full of coconut trees,an imp ingredient in the cuisine.The preferred medium of cooking is coconut oil.In cooking,kerala is a paradise of seafood ,with lots of spices,condiments,rich in colorand texture ,flavour and aroma .Cooking a meal is known as 'pachakam' in malayalam.Kochulli(shallots),kodumpuli(cocum),coconut,cardamom and other spices makes the cuisine spicy,tangy and lip smacking.'Karimeen' or 'Pearl spotted fish 'delicious and expensive fish in kerala.Rice,coconut and curry leaves includes the vital part in cooking.Kerala Porota is one of the popular dish in "Thattukadas"(Open resturants on road sides in kerala) which is the mallu version for 'Dhaba'.Porota is a (flaky pastry like ) multilayered flat bread , made with maida.Making them in thattukada style includes long labour and time consuming.Normally while making at home,its limited to strerching the maida balls into thin layer like chappati and rolling it into twisted circles as shown in the pic.I tried from Annita's My treasure My pleasure. ,it was very tasty n came out really well ,for my future reference,i have written the recipe here.


Kerala Porota
Ingredients for making Dough...
Maida - 2 cups
Luke warm Water - as needed to prepare the dough
Veg Oil/Dalda - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Method...
Step 1.Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead the dough together thoroughly just like you prepare chappathi/roti dough.Keep it for 1 hr..covered with a wet muslin cloth or keep it in an air tight container.Otherise the top of the dough may become dry.
Step 2.Divide the dough into 10 equal portions of size a little less than tennis ball.
Step 3.Take a portion and apply some oil on it.In a flat surface apply oil again and roll out the portion to the maximum .(Make it as thin as possible both length wise and width wise..no need to be worried about the shape..eventhough it breaks in between..its fine..Our objective is to make it as thin as possible..)You can use a rolling pin for this one also.We are doing this instead of the excessive beating required to prepare porotta.Apply a little more oil over the rolled dough.Using both hands make pleates on the rolled dough(just like saree pleates) starting from one end.
Step 5.Then holding at one end of the pleated dough ,rotate it just like a spiral.Keep aside.See the picture below.


Step 6.Repeat the above procedure for each portions and keep it aside.(Its not as difficult as you read the recipe)Again use wet muslin cloth to cover it or keep it in an air tight container. Step 7.Heat a sauce pan until medium hot.Roll out each portion just like roti,but not soo thin.Porotta should be a medium thick.Remember do not apply any flour on it.You can apply some oil/ghee if you like.Cook each roti with a little butter/ghee for 1 or 2 minutes,turning frequently ,until speckled brown and firm.Keep the cooked porotta in an aluminium foil or in air tight container.
Step 8.When 3 or 4 porottas are done,place them in a flat surface and holding them between hands ,beat the hands together.(Just like clapping,but 3-4 porottas are between).do not beat them soo hard such as you break the porottas..:)We are doing this,just to seperate the different layers.Though a time consuming process,its very easy to prepare.


For side dish, i made Mishmash's Chicken Roast


The actual recipe asks for shallots and freshly grounded pepper..Here i made slight variations like 2lbs of chicken, Red onions and Store brought pepper powder...Even then the chicken roast tasted awesome.....

This is my entry to Jyothsna's RCI: Kerala.

French Style Orange -Yogurt Cake

Hi friends,Wishing u all a Happy n prosperous New year!!!! Hope all had wonderful New year celebrations.A bit late to wish coz we were on a long vacation.Had a real blast at Christmas and New year at San Francisco,Los Angeles and Las Vegas.A memorable and jolly trip with friends,ofcourse food was the main enjoyment,Got a chance to try different types of cuisines.Now after coming back,i put weight and feeling lazy to cook oops!!! back to routine....I was planning to make Kerala christmas cake . Due to lack of time,i couldt do it.I made a simple cake not to dissapoint 'S'.This is an old classic French Style grandmother's cake.Firstly its simple and healthy cake coz no butter is used only canola oil or veg oil can be used.Cake was sooo moist,tender and very flavourful coz of syrup added for glaze.This cake platter and spoon is a new year gift from my friend in SFO.

Ingredients for the cake

All purpose flour - 1.5 cups
Plain yogurt - 1/2cup
Large eggs - 3
Granulated sugar - 1 cup
Baking powder 2tsp
Orange zest - 2tsp
Canola oil 1/2cup

For Glaze

Freshly squeezed orange juice 1/4cup
Powdered sugar 1/2cup

Method

Preheat the Oven for 350F.In a bowl mix sugar,yogurt and eggs,stir still well blended or mix with hand beater for 2 min.In another bowl,combine the flour ,orange zestand baking powder.Now add flour to the wat ingredients in two portions,mix to just combine.Add oil and mix for 2 mins.Firstly it looks mess,keep mixing till it comes to a smooth batter.Pour the batter into a buttered round shape or square shape pan.Bake for 25- 30 mins or until the cake feels springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake.Allow it to cool on the rack for 15 mins.Gently remove cake from the pan and set on a rack to cool completely.Now combine the orange juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl and spoon it gently over the cake.The glaze will be thin and will soak in like a syrup.

Notes:

Many variation can be made in this cake.For lemon version,try lemon juice with poppy seeds .For almonds version,try 1/2cup flour and 1/2 cup powdered almonds.