Mysore Rasam

Blogging Marathon #60: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Regional Specials

Dish: Mysore Rasam

For the last day of Blogging marathon, I made another comforting dish from Mysore. I actually made this couple of months ago from 'Dakshin' by Chandra Padmanabhan and I fell in love with all the flavors that went into this.

I don't usually make spice powders at home. MTR brand is one of my favorites and I buy their rasam, sambar and garam masalas. But I had to make an exception for this recipe and it definitely made a big difference. Fresh homemade masalas give so much flavor to the dish, I have to make an effort to make more fresh masalas going forward. That masala recipe is coming up very soon.

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Noodley Pudding (Siwayan/ Semya Custard pudding) for Blog Anniversary

Month of May flew by really, really fast. It was quite a busy month jam packed with a lot of fun and food -- celebrated my birthday, Mother's day, met some blog buddies, took a painting class along with couple of friends, planted a raised bed garden and caught up with family and friends. I wish all months are this way -- even though it went fast, a lot of things have happened and most of the time is accounted for unlike some months were absolutely nothing happens in the whole entire month.

Along with the other happy incidents, my blog completed 9 years and entered into it's 10th year of blogging. I don't think I even knew what I was doing or what I wanted to do with the blog 9 years ago when I started it. This space was my way of documenting my recipes, never thought I would last this long. Being a stay at home mom for the last 3 years, the blog has become my main hobby -- it gives me something else to think about other than the mundane everyday chores.

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Malai Sandesh and a blog Anniversary

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Unused BM# 39 posts
Dish: Malai Sandesh

For the final day of this week's marathon, I made a simple, yet decadent dessert from West Bengal. When I jotting down dishes for Bengal, I was only thinking about sweets/ desserts since it was going to be the last day of the mega marathon and also Bengali dessert are to die for. I had about 4~5 desserts that I really wanted to try. After making Lobong Lathika and this Malai Sandesh, I still have couple more that I really really want to make some time soon.

Another reason for posting a sweet today is Cook's Hideout completed 8 years of blogging this month. After becoming a stay-at-home-mom, blogging and my blog buddies have become my real friends. Blogging gives me something to think about other than household chores and my virtual friends are always there to listen to anything. Big thanks to them for inspiring, motivating and encouraging me to keep blogging. Also thanks to my family for their complete support without which Cook's hideout would not even be possible.

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Eggless Chocolate Cake with Jam for a Celebration

May is a month of celebration in my real home and also in my virtual home. It happens to be my birthday month (yup.. I'm a tough Taurean :-) ) and of course there's Mother's day celebrations. It is also my blog anniversary month -- Cook's Hideout has completed 7 years of blogging. 

Blogging years seem to me like dog years. There are a quite a few blogs that were active at one time, but are no longer virtually alive. I feel like a veteran among many new and upcoming food bloggers. I have to thank my family for their support and patience without whom I wouldn't have been blogging for so long. I was telling my mom the other day that I cook and eat well even when I'm alone because of my blog. 

Big thanks to Valli, the master mind behind Blogging marathon and all my fellow marathoners for their infectious enthusiasm.

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Grilled Eggplant Sandwich with Tomato Pesto (Chutney)

This month, my blog completed 6 years. I wanted to celebrate by making some sweet, as is the Indian tradition, but lack of time has let me down. But I wanted to celebrate in my own way by making my favorite eggplant sandwich (you know I'm all about simple pleasures :0) ). Actually I was looking for recipes to make for Dish It Out: Eggplant &Tomatoes event and this one seemed like the perfect fit for both the event and the celebration.

This is a very simple sandwich with toasted bread spread (rather generously) with the tomato pesto (chutney) and layered with grilled eggplants, onions and lettuce. Pesto was so good that I was eating that by spoonfuls before I made the sandwiches.

 

If outdoor grilling is not your thing, veggies can be grilled on stove-top grill pan or roasted/ broiled in an oven or even sauteed in a saute pan. If you don't like eggplant (but why wouldn't you eat an eggplant......hmmmm), then you can substitute with zucchini or peppers. Don't let anything stop you from making this yummy sandwich, especially the pesto.

I used canned fire-roasted tomatoes for the pesto, but if you have abundance of good fresh tomatoes, then slow roasted tomatoes would taste excellent too. Pesto recipe is a fusion between Italian pesto and Indian chutney, you will see why from the ingredients and the method I used to make it. This is a great accompaniment to many Indian dishes like idlis, khichdi and even plain rice.

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Mango Ice Cream and a Birthday

Cook's Hideout completed 5 years this month. I created this blog as a hobby and a way to document my cooking trial and errors and I'm happy that I'm able to do just that even today. I've met so many incredible food bloggers along the way in the past few years and I've more virtual friends than actual real-life friends. I think about some of them who have stopped blogging over the years and wonder what they are up to now. I have to thank Srivalli for organizing the blogging marathons that keeps me on my toes and makes me post everyday, bonus being getting to know new bloggers and their amazing blogs. Thanks to my family for their patience. Thanks to each and every one of you who come to my blog for your encouraging words. I hope to keep going on many more years to come.

Mango ice cream is something that I absolutely adore and thought would be a perfect recipe to post for the blog's birthday. It used to be a delicacy when we were growing up, only available during summer time. I’m not sure if the situation is still the same in India, but here in the US, Indian groceries carry Mango pulp all through the year making mango ice cream accessible any time you want it.

I already posted a Mango ice cream recipe couple of years back, but this time I wanted to use the cornstarch thickening method that I’ve used for my vanilla ice cream to make it creamier and less icy. The end result was this creamy and delicious ice cream with no added preservatives, but filled with yummy mango goodness.

Ingredients:

Mango puree – 2½ cups

Heavy cream – 1 cup

Whole milk – 2cups

Sugar – ¾ cup

Cardamom powder – 2tsp

Cornstarch – 1½tbsp

Light Corn syrup – 2tbsp

Cream cheese – 3tbsp, softened (to make ice cream scoopable)

Method:

• Whisk cornstarch with 3tbsp milk in a small bowl and set aside.
• Add the rest of the milk to a sauce pan along with cream, corn syrup and sugar. Bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer the mixture until sugar dissolves, about 5-6 minutes.
• Add the mango puree and simmer for another 2 minutes.
• Take off the heat and slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry, mix thoroughly and put it back on flame.
• Return to boil and cook on medium flame until the mixture thickens a little, about 2 minutes.
• Take the mixture of the heat, whisk in the softened cream cheese and cardamom powder.
• Allow to cool completely; chill for 4 hours or overnight.
• Once chilled, follow the ice cream machine’s instructions to make the ice cream. Enjoy!!

Cook's Hideout Turns 3

Wednesday Night around 6:30PM:
Husband: You look really tired. Do you want to order pizza or have some Chinese take-out?

Wife: Oh.. no. today I’ve to make that Aloo baingan for Cook with me: Potato event. It’s already past due, but sweet Jane agreed to accept my entry.

Saturday Night around 8:00PM, husband and wife coming back from shopping.

Husband: Its dinner time already, why don’t we stop by Olive Garden or Chili’s and have dinner?

Wife: Oh.. no.. I have soaked rajma to make these double decker parathas from Tarla dalal’s website for Show your Roti event. It’s due tonight, so we better hurry, I still have to take pics, upload and do my post.

These are typical conversations we have at home. It has been more than 6 months that we went to a restaurant or even had take-out which is the direct result of food blogging and submitting entries to events and I love it. In this present economy we are saving those 50-100$ that were otherwise spent eating out. And to top it off, with half the money saved we have been enjoying different foods from all over the world. It’s awesome. (also to be honest, a girl needs those extra bucks for shoes and bags—don’t you agree??)

Cook’s Hideout turns THREE today and it has been a great journey so far. I’ve tried and tasted new recipes from fellow bloggers, cooked & baked from cook books and shared some of my own recipes. I’ve made a number of blogger buddies and miss them when they don’t post for more than a week.

I almost forgot to mention the three very interesting events that I’ll be hosting this year.

June: Cooking For Kids
August: Jihva for Ingredients and
September: A Worldly Epicurean’s Delight.

I’m very excited about what is in store for my blog in the coming year. Wish me luck with everything guys.