Mixed Fruit Shrikhand

Here's something different from all the different baking and kid friendly dishes I have been posting all week. A deliciously creamy Indian dessert made with yogurt and flavored with saffron and served with some fruit.
I was never a big fan of Shrikhand growing up and don't remember eating it many times. Even after started liking it, I've never made it at home because straining the yogurt seemed to be a big step and also I didn't want my yogurt-hating husband to find some strange contraption in the fridge and chuck it without telling me (I have done something similar to his stuff, so I'm sure he's probably waiting to take revenge). But once I discovered Greek yogurt, it is now a life changer.

I love Chobani Greek yogurt and buy the plain, either non-fat or 2% quite often. I make salad dressings, raitas and if I am really feeling indulgent then this strawberry shrikhand or this frozen yogurt.

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Vegetarian Potpies for Thanksgiving

Blogging Marthon# 46: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Festival Special -- Thanksgiving
Dish: Vegetarian Potpies

For the third day of Blogging Marathon, I made some Individual Vegetarian Potpies. Pot pies are hearty and filling and can be easily customized to ones dietary requirements and/ or ingredient availability. They can be made into one big casserole or as individual potpies. 

Creamy filling made with assorted vegetables forms the base of these delicious potpies. I used chickpeas to add some protein to the dish. The pastry topping that covers the filling adds an extra layer of texture and flavor to these pies.

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Kashmiri Paneer Tikka Masala (Vegetarian recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: North Indian Side dishes
Dish: Kashmiri Tikka Masala

After making Lucknowi dal and Punjabi Kadhi Pakora for the first 2 days of North Indian side dishes, for the final day this week's BM, I made a spicy Kashmiri Paneer Tikka masala. I actually made all of the dishes on the same day and they can all be served together as part of a North Indian meal/ thali along with simple jeera rice or roti.

My mom bought a jar of Kashmiri Tikka masala from her Kashmir trip and I used it in this curry. But the tikka masala can also be made at home. I'm including the recipe for tikka masala from 660 curries here.

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Vegetable Rice for Festivals (Saakannam/ Shakannam)

Saakannam is one of the dishes that is made on the 7th of Navratri/ Dasara. Saakam (shaak) means vegetables and Annam means rice, so it is nothing but mixed vegetable rice. When making any dish on a festival day, we usually refrain from using onion, garlic, garam masala etc. Also using premade or store bought masalas is not preferred.

I tried looking for an authentic rice recipe that is made for festivals, but I couldn't find anything. I asked one of my cousins and she said she makes a simple mixed vegetable rice with ginger. I went with my instincts and made this dish with what I had in the fridge.

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No-Knead Light Whole Wheat Bread

Blogging Marathon# 43: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Tame the Yeast

Dish: Varada's No-Knead Whole-wheat Bread

For the second day, another one of our resident expert bread baker, Varada, shared her No Knead Light Whole wheat bread with the group. Back in US, I use my stand mixer to mix the dough for all my breads. Here in India, I didn't have my special equipment, so I was elated when Varada sent her no-knead bread recipe over. I knew this will be perfect to make in India and already made it twice and got rave reviews from family and friends.

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Kakarakaya Tomato Kura (Bitter gourd-Tomato Curry)

My MIL made this kakarakaya/ bitter gourd curry when she visited us last month. There are quite a few ways to take the bitterness away from bitter gourd, like boiling them with a souring agent like yogurt or tamarind and then squeezing out the bitter water. But this time my MIL salted thinly chopped bitter gourd pieces and refrigerated them overnight. In the morning, she squeezed out the water and made the curry in the pressure cooker.
Both refrigerating the salted bitter gourd and making the curry in the pressure cooker was new to me, so I promptly wrote down the recipe to post it here for future reference.

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Ice Cream Cake

Today's dessert is so simple to make that I feel silly posting a recipe for it. But it tasted amazing, so I felt I should share it here just so I remember to make it in the future. So if you are curious to know what it is, then let me tell you that it's nothing but softened ice cream with candy, cookies and nuts mixed in. 

I made this ice cream cake to serve the kids at our BBQ party last weekend. As I was looking for recipes, I found Nigella Lawson's ice cream cake and I loved the idea of mixing crunchy and chewy mix-ins into good old vanilla ice cream. Come to think of it, vanilla ice cream is like a blank canvas that can be flavored with just about anything.

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Summer Pasta Puttanesca (Vegan recipe)

Weather in our neck of woods is very Spring like -- hot one day, sprinkles and chilly the next day. Spring is one of my favorite seasons -- I love the budding trees, blooming flowers and the crisp mornings. Not many might agree with me, which includes my husband and my son, who suffer from Spring allergies. But I still like spring.
Coming back to today's pasta dish, I watched this being made on America's Test Kitchen cook show and I really liked how the chef made a fresh tomato sauce using grape tomatoes. Grape tomatoes are consistently good all through the year, so this is a great dish to make any time of the year.

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Andhra Pradesh -- Madatha Kaaja/ Thapeshwaram Khaja (Traditional dessert recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 1
State: Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Madatha Kaaja/ Thapeshwaram Khaja

Our Blogging marathon group loves challenges and this time we have decided to do a month long mega marathon exploring the dishes from 30 Indian States & Union Territories. Which means starting today, all of us are going to post authentic dishes from each of the 30 Indian states in alphabetical order.
This would have been an impossible challenge some 5~6 years back, but with so many food bloggers from various parts of the country sharing their recipes online, finding authentic recipes was not too difficult except for the North eastern states. More about that when I do those states in a few days.
Preparations for the Mega marathon started almost 5~6 months ago, but I started working on them 2 months back. In the past couple of months, I have tried ingredients and ingredient combinations that I've never tried before. I can't say I learnt a lot about all the food cultures from the different states, but I sure know at least a few dishes names from each state now.
The most interesting take away for me after cooking from the 30 states is that 'there are so many similarities in the dishes that are made in different states, but at the same time there are as many differences in them too'. Take for example, rice is used in some form or the other in ALL the states, but the dishes that are made are very different from each other. Also the type of spices used and when they are added to a dish makes a big difference in the final taste of the dish.
Acknowledgements: First of my husband who was a very kind guinea pig. He ate everything, without a word, that was served even though some of the dishes tasted quite different with unusual ingredient combinations (from what we are used to). Thanks to the BM group for the inspiration (and nonstop chatter), without which I wouldn't have been able to complete the project on time. Thanks to the internet: Google & Wikipedia in particular for providing all the information on just about everything. Thanks for the hundreds of bloggers from across India for sharing their traditional dishes.

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Potato Latkes (Eggless vegan recipe) with Chunky Applesauce

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: One Dish, Different Countries
Dish: Iranian/ Jewish -- Potato Latkes

When I signed up for this theme I actually wanted to make dumplings from 3 different countries. I even narrowed my dishes to Chinese dumplings, Italian gnocchi and Indian samosas. But with the impending month long mega marathon these dishes seemed too much work and had to change my choice.

Then one day my son came back home and asked me if I had ever made latkes. He said they read a book in school that mentioned about latkes and he wanted me to make them for him. Then I realized I could make pancakes for this week's marathon -- 2 birds at 1 shot.

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Homemade Turkish Baklava Recipe

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: National Dishes from around the World
Dish: Turkish -- Baklava

For the final day of this week's marathon I made Turkish national dish, Baklava. I don't remember the first time I tasted baklava, but it was love at first taste. Baklava is a very rich, sweet pastry made of layers of Phyllo (fillo) dough filled with nuts and sweetened with honey and syrup. 

This has been on my to-make list for a very long time. But with really good Turkish friends we have always had good quality baklavas to enjoy, I never got a chance to try it myself. So this was my chance to make baklava at home and I've to say even though the process of making it is a little tedious with the phyllo (fillo) tearing and so on, but the final product is absolutely tasty and well worth the effort. It is also less expensive to make these at home.

Working with phyllo/ fillo dough is a little tedious and sometimes a little frustrating too as it tends to rip and tear. It is very important to keep the phyllo covered with damp towel at all times to prevent drying out. But it is not the end of the world, everything will turn out OK once the dish is finished.

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Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Ethiopian Cuisine
Dish: Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

Ethiopian cuisine is very vegetarian friendly. There are a number of vegetable based and lentil based dishes that are perfect options for vegetarians and vegans. Today I have a lentil based dish called Mesir Wat. Wat is like stew and Mesir Wat loosely means lentil stew.
Red lentils aka Masoor dal is cooked until thick and creamy with berbere spice making this a very hearty and comforting dish. Addition of berbere spice makes this dish taste amazing.

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