Rose Raspberry Macarons

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there. 

Hope all of you are having a fabulous Mother's day and are being pampered by your kids. I wish my mom was here :-( One of my dear friends has a Mother's day picnic today and that is where we are going to spend our time and have lots of delicious food and loads of fun.
My family has become fans of Macarons after I made tried them for the first time couple of months ago. My son's love actually started after his favorite characters in Pokemon ate macarons and he keeps asking for different flavored ones.

We bought 3 tiny macarons from a local specialty bakery and spent about $4 on them. After tasting them, the whole family agreed that they tasted just like my homemade ones, so why spend so much on them when I can probably make them for much less at home?

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Self Saucing Chocolate Cake (Vegan recipe)

Happy Valentines Day to everyone.

After posting the Mango custard yesterday, I thought I should also post something with Chocolate for Valentines day. Valentines day without chocolate is probably unthinkable for some, but history channel says that this association happened only recently even though the roots of Valentines day go all the way back to Roman era. Chocolate is a well known aphrodisiac, but the main reason for chocolate being the center of this holiday could be the candy companies marketing strategies. Whatever it might be, here's another reason to enjoy our beloved chocolate.
I saw this recipe in King Arthur's catalog and made it the other day for my son's afternoon snack. It is super simple to put together and tasted absolutely a.m.a.z.i.n.g. The warm cake with chocolate sauce served with ice cream is just too irresistible.

Recipe is supposed to be made in 8~10 oz. ramekins or oven safe mugs, I didn't have either, so used 7oz. mini ramekins. Also I veganized the recipe by using soy milk, canola oil (instead of melted butter) and egg replacer (instead of an egg).

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Linzer Cookies (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Linzer Cookies

For the 3rd day of the Cookie marathon, I made Linzer cookies. Not sure why I always thought making linzer cookies was difficult, may be because the name is so fancy!! But come to find out that they are nothing but almond or hazelnut cookies sandwiched together with a jam or chocolate spread in the middle.

Couple of weeks ago I was looking for something in a closet and to my surprise I found Linzer cookie cutter set that I had bought (who knows when) hiding in the back of the closet. So that started my search of Linzer cookie recipes and I found one on King Arthur Flour site.

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Pumpkin Tiramisu (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Desserts with Vegetables
Dish: Pumpkin Tiramisu

If you are still thinking of what to make for Thanksgiving dessert, then here is a perfect recipe for you. I made this couple of weeks ago for our (very) early Thanksgiving party. After that party I realized that we don't really have to wait for Thanksgiving to give thanks to people we love and care about, it can be and should be done any time.

I was asked to bring a dessert and I thought something with pumpkin will be appropriate. I found a recipe for Pumpkin Tiramisu on Martha Stewart's site and I planned to make it. Recipe used uncooked pumpkin puree for layering with the lady fingers. I wasn't sure if it would be too pumpkiny, so I scratched that recipe. Then I found vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli's Vegan Pumpkin Tiramisu and after reading through the mostly positive reviews, I made it for the party.

This dessert is a little time consuming to make, but it totally worth the effort. Pumpkin crème layer can be made at least 2 days ahead and kept in the refrigerator until ready to use. Once the cakes are baked and the trifle is made, it needs to be refrigerated for at least 3~4 hours or overnight to set. The original recipe uses whipped coconut cream to make it completely vegan, but I used regular whipping cream since I never whipped coconut milk and didn't want to take try my luck at this party.

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Baingan Mussalam & Mixed Dal--A tribute to Tarla Dalal

The news of Tarla Dalal passing last week came as a total shock to me. I still remember watching her cooking show like it was yesterday, but it was some 14~15 years back. She was like the Julia Child of Indian cooking, both in terms of cook books she wrote and also cooking shows on TV. She was a natural in front of the camera and all her dishes seemed very doable.

I remember pestering my mom to exotic ingredients from the supermarket after watching Tarla Dala's cooking show. She was the one who introduced baby corn to me way back in late 90s. Also paneer was a foreign ingredient in my mom's kitchen in those days and it was Tarla Dalal's recipes that made us acquainted to it. 

She will be missed immensely in the culinary world, but her legacy is going to live forever through her dishes. Her recipe videos are available on youtube and Tarladalal.com is a great online resource for all Indian recipes. As a small tribute to the diva our Blogging Marathon group is going to post Tarla Dalal's recipes today.

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Tofu Balls with Spaghetti

Vegan Mofo Day 28:

It is quite depressing that the long weekend is almost over and as usual it felt too short. For today's lunch I made these yummy tofu balls and served them over whole wheat spaghetti. Recipe is from The Ultimate book of Vegan Cooking by Tony & Yvonne Bishop-Weston.

Tofu balls are quite delicate and need to be cooked and turned very gently. Nudge the balls gently from the bottom when turning. They tend to stick to the pan, so it is very important they are lifted gently. (I know I said it too many times in 2 sentences, but they are very delicate and need to be treated ge......). The uncooked tofu mixture itself was so yummy that I tasted it far too many times than needed.

Ingredients:

Firm Tofu - 1 package, drained

Onion - 1 medium, grated

Garlic - 2 cloves, minced

Ground Cumin - 1tbsp

Ground Almonds - ½ cup (I used Almond meal)

Dijon mustard - 1tsp

Soy sauce - 2tbsp

Parsley - ¼ cup, finely chopped

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Spaghetti - 8 oz. (I made whole-wheat spaghetti)

Pasta sauce - home made or store bought - 1 cup

Method:

• Take drained tofu, grated onion, garlic, cumin, almond meal, soy sauce, parsley, mustard, salt & pepper in a medium bowl. Mash with a fork or your fingers until everything is well mixed.
• Make walnut sized balls and set aside.
• Heat 2tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan. Slowly add the tofu balls and cook until they turn golden brown on all sides.*
• Once done, remove from the pan and set aside.
• In the mean time cook spaghetti according to package directions and heat the pasta sauce and keep ready.
• To serve: Add spaghetti and pasta sauce in the serving bowl and arrange 4-5 tofu balls on the top. Garnish with basil and serve hot.

* It's advisable to cook the tofu balls in batches instead of cramming everything in one shot.

Tuscan Almond Cookies: Ricciarelli

This post has been in my drafts for a while now. I think my next few posts will also be from drafts until (a) I start making some post worthy dishes and (b) run-out of posts in my drafts. Ok then, moving on..

I buy lot of stuff on impulse, not really thinking or planning on what I’m going to use it for. This happens mostly with the items for kitchen; ingredients, appliances etc. Same used to be the case with clothes & shoes, but with age, I’ve slowed down a lot and only buy things that I really really want & need. But I guess it’ll take me a little while to get that kind of restraint in buying kitchen supplies. So one such impulse buys was Almond meal from Trader Joe's a while back. I had it out in the pantry for a long time, and then I stashed it in the freezer along with my other nuts & grains.

When I saw this cookie post by the Jugalbandits, I wanted to try the almond cookie because they looked so cute in their pic. Since the almond meal was made from unpeeled almonds, it has brown flecks unlike the creamy white Jugalbandit’s cookies. That did not affect the taste of these yummy cookies. They are extremely easy to put together, though I was skeptical about whipping egg whites. That’s one of my fears along with making sugar syrups and whipping cream. I don’t even attempt any of the above listed due to the fear of failure. What if I do too much, eggs are going to deflate and sugar is going to too hard. Well I tried this time and I’m glad that everything turned out well and the cookies were just delicious. I followed the recipe from Divina Cucina closely, my only addition is grated orange zest, taken from Jugalbandit’s recipe.

Ingredients:
Almond meal* – 2 cups (I sifted it remove some of the peel)
Confectioners Sugar – 2 cups + Extra for rolling the cookies
Egg whites – 2**
AP flour – 2tbsp
Baking powder – ½tsp
Almond extract – 1 tsp

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  
• Mix almond meal & confectioners sugar. Add flour & baking powder and mix well.
  
• Whip egg whites until they hold peaks. Fold egg whites into almond meal mixture; add almond extract & orange zest and mix until incorporated. Resultant mixture is sticky but you should able to easily roll into round cookies, if it is too sticky add some flour.
  
• Roll a small lemon size dough into a round and roll them in confectioner’s sugar; flatten lightly and put them on parchment lined baking sheet.
  
• Make sure that the cookies are at least an inch thick. Place them well apart as they spread considerably.
  
• Bake for 13-14 minutes, but check at 12 to make sure they done.
  
• These measurements made me about 2 dozen cookies. They keep good in an air tight container for about a week. Great with a cup of coffee or even tea.

* Make your own almond meal; see how to here.

** Separate eggs while still cold. Leave the whites at room temperature for at least 20 minutes to bring them to room temperature and then whip, room temp whites whip faster then cold whites.