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!!

Spicy Cauliflower curry (Masaaledar Phool gobhi)

I can't believe it is the last day of BM# 5 and I can't believe that I posted everyday for 2 weeks. Big thanks to Valli for organizing this marathon and choosing interesting themes. So for day 7 of the marathon, I thought I'll make something from "660 Curries" cookbook by Raghavan Iyer.

This is a simple curry with cauliflower and tomatoes and can be cooked within 30 minutes. Goes great with rice or roti.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 medium head, cut into 1" florets

Red onion - 1 small, thinly sliced

Tomatoes - 4, medium or 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes

Garlic - 3-4 cloves, cut into thin lengthwise slivers

Ginger - 2" piece, julienned

Ground cumin (jeera) - 2tsp

Ground coriander (dhaniya) - 2tsp

Red chili powder (Cayenne pepper) - 1tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Chickpea flour - 2tbsp

Salt - t0 taste

Cilantro - for garnish

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan over medium heat; add onions, ginger and garlic and sauté until onions start to caramelize, about 8-10 minutes.
• Add cumin, coriander, chili powder, turmeric and salt. Cook for about 30 seconds.
• Then add the tomatoes, cauliflower and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 12-15 minutes.
• Sprinkle in the chickpea flour and quickly stir into the sauce to thicken it slightly. Allow the sauce to simmer, uncovered, for another 1-2 minutes to thicken further.
• Stir in chopped cilantro and serve.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up on the final day of the marathon.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Root Vegetable Curry

For day 6 of BM#5, I made this root vegetable curry with yam, potato and carrots. I saw the recipe in eenadu.net and wrote it down in my diary and have been meaning to make it for quite some time now, finally yesterday I made to post for the marathon.

I thought the use of coconut milk in the curry gives it a different dimension, almost a Keralan twist to the dish. It is mildly spiced with the sweetness from the carrots and coconut milk and slight spiciness from the green chilies. I used frozen yam/ suran/ kanda and it made making this dish in 30 minutes possible. If using fresh, microwave all the veggies to cut down on the cooking time.

Ingredients:
Yam/ Suran/ Kanda – 1 cup chopped
Potato – 2 medium, chopped
Carrots – 2 medium, diced
Onion – 2 medium, chopped
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Ginger – 1tsp, grated
Green chilies – 2-3 (use more for spicier curry)
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – 8-10
Bay leaves – 2
Cinnamon stick – 1” piece
Cloves – 4
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves and once it start smelling fragrant and aromatic, add onions and turmeric.
• Sauté until onions turn translucent, 6-8 minutes.
• Next add all the veggies, salt and ½ cup of water. Cover and cook until the veggies are tender, should take about 15 minutes.
• Next add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 2 minutes and turn off the heat.

Serve with steamed rice and dal.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Spinach-Cabbage Lentil Curry (Palakura-Cabbage Pappu kura)

I know the title is a little misleading, how can a dish be a pappu (dal) and a kura (curry). I wonder too!! My intention was to make a dry curry with moong dal, but ended up adding a little too much water as I wanted to make the curry in 30 minutes, but ended up with a very mushy dal. To add insult to injury none of the pictures I took came out good. But it tasted awesome. Well, in the spirit of blogging marathon, I’m going to post the recipe and the picture, but I’m going to redeem myself and make a better looking curry soon.

I usually make this curry with just spinach, but this time I only had half a bag of baby spinach, so I added half a head of cabbage to make enough curry for 3-4 servings.

Ingredients:
Spinach – 3 cups, chopped
Cabbage – ½ of a medium head, about 4 cups chopped
Moong dal (Pesarapappu) – ½ cup
Garlic – 2 cloves, roughly chopped
Green chilies – 2, slit vertically
Turmeric – ¼ tsp Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Urad dal (minapappu) – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Dry red chilies – 2, broken
Curry leaves – 8-10

Method:

• Soak moong dal in water for about 5-10 minutes (up to half an hour if you have time), in the mean time get the veggies ready.
• Heat 2tsp oil in a sauté pan, add tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter add moong dal (drained), spinach and cabbage. Add turmeric and mix well.
• Cover and cook on medium flame stirring occasionally until dal is cooked through and cabbage is cooked through, should take about 15-20 minutes.
• Season with salt and cook for another minute. Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Usually there’s no need to add water to cook the lentils since if are soaked and both cabbage and spinach give out water while cooking. I wanted to finish the dish within 30 minutes, so added about ¼ cup of water along with the veggies which ended up making my dal too mushy. Ideally this is a dry curry where should be able to see the dal whole.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 5 of BM#5.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli